Tony Rickaby

Artist statement

Born and brought up in London, and having lived there most of my life, my art reflects my fascination with its buildings and streets and the constant evidence of people, movement, change and chaos. I use and combine many different forms - installations, constructions, paintings, text pieces and digital animation always intending that the structure of these works reflects the subject-matter I am dealing with. Sometimes my artworks function as single pieces and sometimes as a related group of images or objects. Usually these have been gallery-based, but I have also shown in other formats: shop windows, architectural spaces and in printed and digital magazines. I take pleasure in making things and in using colour; also in researching the historical and social background to my work, which does, I believe, make it more solid and complex. I enjoy writing as a way of clarifying my ideas or communicating them to others. My work used to be predominantly text-based and I continue to incorporate words into many of my pieces.

Initial art influences on my work would be the minimalists and conceptualists of the 1960s and the feminist artists of the early 1970s for their use of issues and ideas. Now I may also find inspiration in the poetry of William Blake and T.S. Eliot or the art of the Lascaux caves, Brice Marden or Christian Boltanski. I am currently working on a project about South London, where I live.