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.
Please
e-mail at gerald@ionistart.com
| 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 founded
the IONIST ART GROUP in 1987 to forge links between members of the artistic
and scientific communities. The Group organised regular meetings
and 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.
| 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 |
ORIGINAL IONIST ART
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