Artist Biography - Brian West
As the son of an amateur artist I became familiar from an early age with the strange smell of linseed oil and turpentine. I attended classes at Mansfield School of Art from the age of 10 and the charcoaled fingers and fleeting glimpses into the life-classrooms were indelible experiences and stimulated my interest in the opposite of figurative stillness. Following which, my involvement in both studying figurative movement and sport combined, for if not playing football or cricket every daylight hour - I was sketching some athletic action or other - playing air-guitar didn’t become an in vogue pastime until later.
Imagery & the Colour of Movement
I now always paint in oils and acrylics, using brush and knife in a range of textures from a thin brushed wash through to a heavy knifed impasto. My application has developed over 35 years or so by mostly being more concerned with the loose application of positive colours rather than the clinical line and detailed illustrative precision. It has proved a steep learning curve attempting to impact an emotion in this way.
It may be that thinking positively can be self-inspiring enough to pursue a personal achievement or lasting contentment. The pliability and colour-fusion of painting in oils is theraputic and challenging, the same process is easier applied but the end product harder to attain when using fast-drying acrylics - for unlike oils - it just refuses to be pushed around. It demands a kind of strata-painting in order to build up the same desired interference of tone and mark or ghosting effect - something I aspire to in trying to capture the emotion and colour of movement in its millisecond prime - a visually impossible surreal glimpse of a connection to a parallel universe of stillness in action... a bit obscure I know but I think thats the nearest I can get to explaining a modus operandi.
“Brian West began painting in oils at an early age later attending Mansfield College of Art. In his professional career West has specialised in sporting imagery, seeking to
portray the drama, colour and spectacle of the sporting world. He has exhibited widely with great success and has been commissioned by many famous names from the world of sport, including Gary Lineker OBE, Peter Shilton MBE.OBE, Gordon Strachan OBE, Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, Sir Jack Haywood, David Gower OBE and many others; as well as painting commissions for sporting institutions such as The Football Association, The Sports Council, Wembley Stadium plc, The British Olympic Sailing Team and various football, cricket and rugby clubs.”
All work displayed on this site is subject to copyright laws
site by eventure