SUMMARY

I am interested in using the creation of art as a philosophical and experimental tool as well presenting a more holistic portrayal of the world.  I use a combination of controlling structure, either schematic or spontaneous, and various types of evolving image sequences to explore a particular idea and my responses to it.  Currently my creative output takes the form of a number of painting and drawing styles.  However, in the past I have been involved with performance art, environmental constructions, sculpture/assemblages and conceptual art in numerous manifestations.
 

BACKGROUND

Growing up in a remote Wiltshire village in the late Fifities/early Sixties I had a highly creative childhood.  I won a number of art awards and had a play performed while still at school.  However, the predominant passion of my earliest years was science and technology.

My profound and sustained interest in visual art began in the early Seventies and by the latter part of the decade I had invented my idiosyncratic approach to art which combines visual art forms with processes from music, literature/theatre, and all the sciences.  I have continued to extend and refine this creative procedure to the present day.

In 1976 I coined the term Ionism to cover this art style - i.e. an ism without a prefix!  This was partly a tongue in cheek response to the proliferation of isms in art and partly to allude to the "ionic" nature of my work with its combination of ideas from disparate disciplines.  I also initiated the "Alchemist Papers Project", which was an attempt at perpetual creativity where I would write down a continuous list of art ideas derived from my immediate surroundings.  This began in 1977 and eventually petered out at the beginning of 1983.  Thousands of pages were produced which have not yet been published in full.

At this time I was experimenting with a wide variety of media; including performance pieces, music, installations and environments, sculpture, painting and graphic art.  Most of this work has subsequently been lost.  I did not concentrate on painting and drawing until the early Eighties.
 

ART STYLES

I work in a large number of styles (broadly divided into science inspired and nature inspired):

MEDITATIVE PROCESS ART: Is a developmental art form with diverse arrangements of image sequences and either a spontaneous diffusive development or a controlled linear elaboration. 
MEDITATIVE PORTRAITS: Are characterisations of people (historical or friends and family) using structures containing symbol and shape sequences.
IONOSCAPES: Which date from the late Eighties represent random arrangements of small symbols which produce fields of imagery
I also produce a great many smaller simplified painting (as well which incorporate elements from the more complex works.

MEDITATIVE LANDSCAPES: Are portrayals of the natural world combining serial forms with observation.   Using this method I hope to give a more complete representation of the natural world.
MEDITATIVE FIELD PAINTINGS: Take landscape as an initiating source or template for works exploring fundamental metaphysical issues.
I also still produce conventionally figurative paintings - mainly to commission but occasionally for relaxation.

IONIST ART - GRAPHIC WORK AND EARLY & EXPERIMENTAL WORK:  Under these categories I include my initial pencil/ink Ionist Art experiments, which I have actually returned to recently, and all my (very diverse) pre-Ionist Art Styles.
 

ART GROUPS AND PUBLICATIONS

I formed the IONIST ART GROUP for artists and scientists in 1987 and arranged monthly meetings for members of the artistic and scientific communities.

I also temporarily ran a PROCESS ART GROUP in the Eighties as an exhibiting group operating on a mutual assistance basis.

In 1992 I launched a scheme to campaign and raise funds for animal welfare and wildlife conservation charities. The early events were staged under the name of ARTISTS FOR ANIMALS/ARTISTS FOR CHARITY. 

From 1994 I have been organizing exhibitions of modern art in my local area under the name of MODERN WILTSHIRE ARTISTS.

I founded the ION EXCHANGE periodical in 1989.  The aim of this publication was to provide a means of communication between artists and scientists, to initiate debate and encourage the creation of interdisciplinary projects.  It ceased publication in 1992 although I plan to relaunch it again in the near future - most of the material can be read on the web.

I am currently working on an Ionist Art Journal entitled ZWITTERION.
 

Gerald Shepherd August 2008