Morning Coffee with Alfred Meakin Print

I’m a cinematographer with a sub-specialism in underwater camerawork and a specialism in documentary (series and long-form). My first degree was a BSc in Zoology with a second degree, a BA, in critical and literary theory; so my very nature, when translated into art, is research research research. When I come to a painting, I’ve already spent dozens of hours and days in cresting the idea because the idea is the basic form. It’s from the idea that I explore the narrative that the painting will have as a part of the series I’m working on. I do this for a couple of reasons – one being it is my nature to inquire, to quiz, to plan, and to execute that plan (that part is as much from my professional diver training as my science training; with the inquiry and exploration having origins in my arts degree). And the other is because my choice of materials is based on very high quality which usually means they cost more – and I don’t like waste. From my first series on the ordinary and everyday a couple of years back (the 31x31cm square food/drink pieces), out of 23 pieces I produced, only three were discarded. But the frames were re-purposed so didn’t get thrown away. I use a camera instead of a sketchbook these days (I’m most definitely a child of the 21stC despite being born in the 20th) an Who are you and have you always been an artist? I’m trained as a cinematographer with a sub-specialism in underwater camerawork and have won multiple peer-judged cinematography awards. So, while my career has been about creating the image, that image has only recently become painting. Cinematography is always about composition, colour, chroma, and exposure. And that translates into my art practice as I balance the elements of camera work and illustration to produce paintings of my main subject – the quotidian, or, the ordinary and everyday of life. And they are playful. They’re exploring the premise that beauty exists everywhere, in the joy of the everyday, in the bones of the people we love; and it’s about revealing the scars and cracks that exist by being human, to share what isn’t always shown. And to celebrate those signs of existence that reveal a life lived .