Interview: abstract artist Sam Peacock.
Posted on July 1, 2016
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Our resident abstract and steel artist Sam Peacock may currently be in a field burning steel sheets, the ritual that gives life and spirit to each of his paintings. Read on to hear how Anglo Saxon settlements and real ale play their part in Peacock’s new collection Province.
What inspired the new province collection?
For some time, I have been interested to explore myth and legend associated with forgotten places and roads along the Sussex peninsular, I had become interested in creating art built solely with ideas surrounding how different cultures have combined over the centuries and how different ideas have shaped the landscape we now live in.
The work still retains the red blocks of colour evident in other collections you have produced, why is this?
Throughout building the “Ironsea” and “Fractured” collections, I had wanted to retain this idea of the red colour being a living beast opposed to change. It seems to have become what I am becoming known for as a painter. The author Richard Adams has this idea in Watership Down that the diggers turn up and destroy the warren, the earth turns to red with the bloodletting happening. I’m influenced by contemporary film as an idea as much as by exploring and site visits when producing work. I hope that the ideas from each of the collections will morph into each other over time, so that the work is not too dissimilar from one collection to another.
Some of the more recent work you have produced seems like it could become more 3D and sculptural. Would you agree?
I believe that with Fractured, the sculpted ideas become more prevalent. When producing the work, I shaped a lot of the plaster with hand to make it a more realistic representation of a landscape, the work will ultimately become very sculptural, but still retaining the dynamic which it has at present. I spent some time exploring Iron Age hill forts over the summer and wanted to include chalk and flint into what I am producing. It is getting the visual representation correct before I can release the work.
You have begun to title each piece after a place name; this happened in the “Fractured” collection, why has this continued in Province?
Each of the pieces in Province is named after places where I have visited whilst looking for somewhere else ultimately. Sussex has been an important place since Iron Age communities lived in the Weald, as a landscape painter I wanted to recognise the landscape, as it may have been when various people have settled there and given a place a name, be it Roman, Saxon on Anglo Norman. I try and visit each place and explore the landscape and local myth and heritage, then give an artistic representation for each piece I produce.
You are extremely process driven, why is fire so important in your work?
Fire is the lifeblood behind the work; it gives the work its soul and its spirit. It shapes the colours I apply and makes each piece individual. Some of the yellows you see in Province were inspired by fields of corn over the summer months, which were then harvested. I used heat to give the yellow its richness and form. The blues and greens are inspired by how the weather changes the natural landscape. The sanded areas are inspired by shards of natural light blazing into a forest. When you listen to composers such as Howard Shore, you get the feeling that he wrote the score for some of his films next to an open fire or over a pint of real ale in his local tavern.
Liked this? Check out our top 5 exhibitions in London!
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Written by Curious Duke Gallery blogger Sinéad Loftus.
Lover of all art and fluffy cats.