Beatrice Phillpotts - 1990

 

INTRODUCTION

When I began painting I experimented with many styles.  These included surrealistic paintings, abstracts, sculptures, assemblages, environments and text based art - many of which I have continued to explore.  I also produce a wide range of conventional figurative work. 

I wanted to find a means of continuous creation in my work and in 1976 I found a style that enabled me to maximise and test my inventive ability. I began to experiment with sequential and elaborative formats that allow a systematic analysis and elaboration of a thematic image or idea.  I also began to combine images, symbols, numbers and words with controlling structures derived from science and mathematics.   With tongue in cheek I coined the term IONIST ART for this work (this is what you get if you remove express from Expressionist Art!).  I also use the more descriptive term of MEDITATIVE PROCESS ART for this very complex work.

My interest in system based art diversified in the eighties.  I began to use music forms as structures for my work and also became fascinated with merging painting with writing and theatrical ideas - setting poetry to paintings, image dramas and performance pieces, etc. Typically, the music based work consisted of a thematic statement followed by a series of variations or a development section where the initiating material is expanded and explored. 

I am also producing a series of MEDITATIVE LANDSCAPES, STILL LIFES & PORTRAITS.  This work combines  observation with the systems, image sequences and symbols developed in my other work.  The landscapes etc. attempt a more holistic representation of the natural world and the portraits attempt the characterisation of a person using colours, symbols and signs.

I have shown regularly at the Loggia Gallery in London and I have had many other exhibitions of my work.  I have paintings in private collections, public buildings and on business premises throughout England.  I show regularly with the international Free Painters & Sculptors as well as other national and local art groups.  I have also exhibited with Elyn Carleton's "Creators" and "Innovators" groups. My work can also be found on many online galleries.

I am happy to work to commission and I will consider any project, either solo or collaborative.
 
 

The artist's work had no direct link with past modes of thought, but it seemed in my view to fall somewhere between Indian or Oriental art and the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. Painstakingly, and with great precision, most of the work was arranged in a kind of Board Game/Strip Cartoon style with numbers, arrows, animals and abstract designs pigeon-holed within various compartments. Edward Taylor -1991

 

I continue to produce work in many other styles, often using pseudonyms.  I intermittently produce work in my pre Ionist styles such as surrealism and abstract art.  I have also returned recently to the original Ionist techniques of the early Eighties.
 
 

The paintings are graphic in style and execution, and personal in language. When one talks about paintings, or in this case writes about them, one seeks out comparisons in order to explain them. I hesitate to do so for these because I believe Gerald Shepherd is working out a language of his own. But just for starters let me point to hieroglyphics or ideograms, comic strips, mathematical or biological diagrams and so on. Brian Yale - 1992

 

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR SELECTED PORTFOLIO

Steve Maclaurin - 2000

 

I founded the IONIST ART GROUP in 1987 to meet like minded artists and to make contact with members of the scientific community.  The Group provided a means of communication between the various disciplines and also attempted to initiate collective art-science projects.

I also organised group exhibitions for like minded artists in the Eighties using the name PROCESS ART GROUP.

I expanded my areas of interest in the early Nineties and began to create and stage events of all kinds to raise funds and campaign for charities.  Part of  this work was done under the name of ARTISTS FOR ANIMALS. 

In 1994 I began a series of exhibitions under the name of MODERN WILTSHIRE ARTISTS with the aim of presenting and promoting Modern Art in my local area.

I am profoundly interested in all the sciences, especially physics and chemistry.  I am also passionate about geology, astronomy, archeology, history and geography. 

I have a more practical interest in all aspects of Natural History - including botany, zoology, palaeontology, ecology and horticulture, particularly in terms of conservation. I work on a voluntary basis for the Wiltshire Wildlife Conservation Volunteers and I am a member of several local Wildlife Trusts.  I am also a Friend of the RSPCA.

I currently live and work in Andover with my wife, June; dog, Poppy; cats, Bugsy, Smudge and Isis; rabbit, Hieronymous (Sandy); guinea pigs, Ernst and Peppa and various other pets.

Roy Rasmussen