Geoff Brown
Artist Statement
In my college days, I went through a process of what many a student of painting goes through, in that I utilised many different styles and ways of working in a relatively short space of time. At Camberwell I worked in the sculpture school for my first year and this had a major impact in the development of my later painting.
Post college and during the early seventies l evolved the main characteristics of my present work , which attempts to find a balance between process and image. I have always been concerned with the tension between the actuality of the painting as an object in itself, and its representational or suggested imagery. Although I sometimes concentrate exclusively on one of these areas, I find it advantageous to use these two elements in the same work if need be.
The imagery I use tends to appear non traditional, ordinary, everyday and often random. However, process, selection and sometimes juxtaposition, often makes it look differently. Ideas and preparatory information i record in a traditional visual diary ! sketchbook along with first and second hand photographic material built up over a long timeframe which I often return , add too and modify.
As far as the influence of other artists on my work and development I would certainly mention the photo realists particularly Richard Estes and Robert Bechtle as well as more historical figures from Piero Della Francesca to Edward Hopper. More recently I have appreciated and admired the German artist Gerhard Richter particularly his style diversions from realism to abstraction and use of photographic sources as well as more painterly artists like Richard Diebenkor Gerry Hunt, my tutor from Camberwell days, has also been a constant influence and help.