“Standing before a work that spans an entire wall,
completely filling your vision, is like a
declaration of ‘Look, I think I have
something important to say.’”
With the use of long brushstrokes, Ian Wickham is conscious of creating the sense of a gravitational downward pull in many of his paintings. This downward motion contrasts with the strong and muscular figures that seem to want to rip right out the surface of the canvas. His vibrant palette is essential to his subject matter with plenty of red tones to agree with the aggressive nature of the imagery and style.
as your primary fine art medium?
IW: I've been drawing since I was a child and to a lesser degree, painting as
well. There's something about drawing though that puts me in a more analytic
mind state. It's a form of art that allows me to develop ideas rather than
create finished pieces. Painting on the other hand has a more visceral feeling.
In a sense, it lets me stop thinking so much about every line and really get
into the creative process. There is something immediate about painting that
allows you to quickly work, step back, evaluate what you’ve done, and continue.
I’m not a fan of creative processes that take a lot of time and effort, such as
printmaking. For me at least, painting is a spontaneous outpouring of my
thought process. It lets me quickly work something up, analyze the issues and
then make changes.
GE: You tend to work on large canvases. What is it about large scale that you like?
IW: I think I gravitate towards work that is on a slightly larger scale because I find as a viewer, larger works tend to have more of an impact. There is something about artists that work on a large scale that I feel carries a statement of their ego and aggressiveness. Standing before a work that spans an entire wall, completely filling your vision, is like a declaration of “Look, I think I have something important to say.” I think when it comes to artwork, I have a pretty big ego, and this plays into my choice of size.
GE: Where does your imagery come from? Do you have a vision of your end-product or are you making it up as you go along?
IW: My paintings tend to lean towards a sort of a raw, almost unfinished look.
I lean towards abstraction, but often can’t help myself from putting in some
kind of figure or recognizable object. I don’t regard myself as an angry,
aggressive person, but my imagery has a certain implied violence that I keep
returning to. I think I like the idea of struggle within an image, something
that works on a subconscious level.
GE: How does your digital work relate to your studio work?
IW: My digital work has certain aspects that reflect my studio side, often in terms of somewhat darker subject matter. But I also think that I try to mainstream what I do in digital work because I feel like it’s more of a commercial endeavor as opposed to pure expression.
GE: As an artist who is well versed in the digital side of things, do you think it’s important for all of today’s artists to learn artistic software and web programming?
IW: I think it’s highly important to have at least a basic knowledge of digital tools at this point. Even if it’s just for self-representation purposes, at least you are in control of how your website is going to look or how you want prints of your work to come out. I also think that divide between Fine Arts and Digital Arts is shrinking. Digital tools have so much sophistication at this point that it can be very difficult to tell if something was painted on a canvas or in a Painter-style program with a pen and tablet.
GE: I understand your parents are artists. How has that influenced your choice of study/artwork?
IW: Yes, both my parents have Masters in Fine Arts and both are painters. I think my work has similarities to both of their styles, with a more thoughtful, analytic approach that my father takes being evident in my drawings. My mother works more abstractly and freely and I think this is much more like my painting. They were always extremely encouraging of anything related to art and often gave me lessons. They were also critical when it came to showing final products and I think this made me at least a little resilient to the critique process. I think towards the end of what would have been high school for me, they allowed me much more freedom to do art as opposed to other academic work. I think this was somewhat pivotal in my choice to study art in college.
GE: In today’s competitive world, what do you think an artist needs to do to capture the viewer’s attention?
IW: Becoming what we would consider a successful artist in today’s world is one of the most difficult things to do. We live in an era that is not the most conducive to starting artists. There isn’t a style of the times that you can latch onto to become “well known” - which is in itself a kind joke because well known in the art world is not the same as being a famous musical artist or actor. I think what is important right now is doing work that’s really going to say something about the artist. There is so much work out there, and so many working artists that exceptionally skilled in technique, it can be disheartening to many young people that might think it’s impossible to get into the Fine Arts field. But, I honestly think that creating work that comes right from your gut, something very individual and personal will cut through a lot of gimmicks and tricks that may initially appear enticing.
GE: You tend to work on large canvases. What is it about large scale that you like?
IW: I think I gravitate towards work that is on a slightly larger scale because I find as a viewer, larger works tend to have more of an impact. There is something about artists that work on a large scale that I feel carries a statement of their ego and aggressiveness. Standing before a work that spans an entire wall, completely filling your vision, is like a declaration of “Look, I think I have something important to say.” I think when it comes to artwork, I have a pretty big ego, and this plays into my choice of size.
GE: Where does your imagery come from? Do you have a vision of your end-product or are you making it up as you go along?
IW: My digital work has certain aspects that reflect my studio side, often in terms of somewhat darker subject matter. But I also think that I try to mainstream what I do in digital work because I feel like it’s more of a commercial endeavor as opposed to pure expression.
GE: As an artist who is well versed in the digital side of things, do you think it’s important for all of today’s artists to learn artistic software and web programming?
IW: I think it’s highly important to have at least a basic knowledge of digital tools at this point. Even if it’s just for self-representation purposes, at least you are in control of how your website is going to look or how you want prints of your work to come out. I also think that divide between Fine Arts and Digital Arts is shrinking. Digital tools have so much sophistication at this point that it can be very difficult to tell if something was painted on a canvas or in a Painter-style program with a pen and tablet.
GE: I understand your parents are artists. How has that influenced your choice of study/artwork?
IW: Yes, both my parents have Masters in Fine Arts and both are painters. I think my work has similarities to both of their styles, with a more thoughtful, analytic approach that my father takes being evident in my drawings. My mother works more abstractly and freely and I think this is much more like my painting. They were always extremely encouraging of anything related to art and often gave me lessons. They were also critical when it came to showing final products and I think this made me at least a little resilient to the critique process. I think towards the end of what would have been high school for me, they allowed me much more freedom to do art as opposed to other academic work. I think this was somewhat pivotal in my choice to study art in college.
GE: In today’s competitive world, what do you think an artist needs to do to capture the viewer’s attention?
IW: Becoming what we would consider a successful artist in today’s world is one of the most difficult things to do. We live in an era that is not the most conducive to starting artists. There isn’t a style of the times that you can latch onto to become “well known” - which is in itself a kind joke because well known in the art world is not the same as being a famous musical artist or actor. I think what is important right now is doing work that’s really going to say something about the artist. There is so much work out there, and so many working artists that exceptionally skilled in technique, it can be disheartening to many young people that might think it’s impossible to get into the Fine Arts field. But, I honestly think that creating work that comes right from your gut, something very individual and personal will cut through a lot of gimmicks and tricks that may initially appear enticing.
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