Richard Whadcock

Richard completed a general fine art course at Bristol Art College (1986-89), followed by a Master's Degree in printmaking at the Royal College of Art (1989-91). His art pares down everything that is insignificant to the bare essentials. His work is inspired by the natural landscape, as well as historical artists such as Cy Twombly, Robert Motherwell, Milton Avery to Vermeer, Turner, and Rembrandt. Based in Lancing, Ireland Richard’s studio lies amongst the undulating peaks and valleys of the Irish coastal scape. After spending a few weeks of residency in Kerry, Ireland, the artist experienced the single biggest in change in his relationship to his work and its influences. Richard is drawn to the way the landscape can sporadically morph into different states, as it vacillates along the coastline: one minute clear, the next capitulating a weather front that sweeps the sea: “Known geographical detail can be expunged by a coastal mist, smudged away by a downpour or bleached out by intense low morning or evening sun. It is these transitions from one state to another that the paintings are dealing with, small periods of time, not really a singular moment as such. They are also not meant to be of a particular place, hence the rarity with which they are titled with a geographical name. This is in some way to stop the name already defining a picture in the viewer's mind. I aim for them to evoke a place, perhaps in your memories of somewhere you have been to. To describe a feeling, atmosphere during a passage of time. The viewer is bringing something to the painting as well, the painting draws it out of you only to deliver you back through the layers of light and depth.”