artist 31... apathy artist award

John Wonnacott

John Wonnacott was born in London in 1940. He trained at the Slade School from 1958-63 before moving to Southend in Essex where he still lives and paints in a studio overlooking the Thames Estuary.  His paintings and drawings are known for their panoramic and unexpected pictorial space which is a dynamic of working from direct observation.

Here is a small excerpt from an interview with Wonnacott that I found helpful: "The first thing that strikes me about John Wonnacott's studio is that there's a copy of Lucian Freud's portrait of the critic Martin Gayford hanging upside down on the wall.

"I went to Lucian's studio to see that painting and absolutely hated it. I thought it was sloppy; I thought he was just being lazy. But now I think I was wrong," explains Wonnacott. So he's hung it upside-down to test it. "Painters often turn their work upside down, you know. That's how you can tell you've got a good picture. I'm always working sideways." "

I love that he looks at paintings from different angles to find out what is wrong with them.  However, that is pretty much all I like about him.  Wonnacott is apathetic artist of the year.  Check out this quote from him, about his own lack of insight into his portraiture:

"I paint appearances. I don't understand insight into people. I don't know what that means. My colleagues in portrait painting say that they can see beneath the skin. Well, I think they're jolly clever. I find it hard enough to see the skin."

http://www.johnwonnacottgallery.com/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3647614/In-the-studio-John-Wonnacott.html