From his studio in Chester, Jack creates paintings which explore the mysterious world of abstraction. Working predominantly with oils, he aims to create a harmonious surface, where colour, form and texture all live as one and ultimately, tell a story.

After graduating from The University of Chester in 2014, Jack spent three years travelling intensely across three continents, most of it by bicycle. He cycled 3,000 miles across India and 7,000 miles from Europe to Asia along the famous Silk Road.

During these three years, Jack didn’t paint. He indulged wholeheartedly in the freedom of life on the open road. This was incredibly inspiring for his artistic process and contributed to the visual and contextual stimuli that winds its way into the work in a multi-vocal and curious way. It was only as he returned back to the UK, he felt he finally could start again, and maybe the two were connected.

Jack’s wide knowledge of art informs his copious inspirations. From the atmosphere of Monet and Turner to the boldness of Twombly and Kline, he hopes to find a mutual middle ground that suits his tumultuous aesthetic.

Artist Statement

This series of work is about creating atmosphere. It’s about hosting turbulent colour and form whilst simultaneously evoking calmness and balance; chaos and cohesion. I aim to charge different surfaces with paint that informs a world bursting at the seams.

They’re strips of memory exaggerated and enhanced by music and a gut feeling that urges to tease out a story, that’s already in my mind. Music is integral to the process. That’s where the core of the painting emerges, I try to mirror the sensations of the music and their climatic explosive peaks and meanderings.

I work in a very free fluid movement, creating impulsive symbols and gestural marks which are subliminally placed. The work is trying to speak for itself and I’m trying to catch up. It’s a language I create but don’t necessarily understand. I love to play in that mystery.

My paintings portray a raw and tactile approach of scraping, scratching, layering, thinning, all the elements constantly fighting for space. There’s a constant push and pull with the surface.

The viewers obviously make their own interpretation with abstraction, but ultimately ’d like to be able to evoke in the viewer a sense of suspense, heightened imminence and a world that appears to be bursting through the surface towards them.

Exhibitions

CASC Exhibition 2020, Chester, UK