Simon Hartles
St Just in Penwith
Artist and Art Lecturer, based in West Cornwall
Having originally trained to work with blown glass and ceramic processes, blurred recollections of the heat and flow of molten glass and the alchemy involved in ceramic firings hold an enduring influence upon my current practice which inhabits a space somewhere between painting and sculpture. The work reflects an instinctive curiosity in method and materials, as well as in the rugged post-industrial West Cornwall landscape where I am currently based. Social, political, environmental and industrial legacies become referenced through the use of materials and implied analogy. These forms albeit abstracted through memory and process are recurrently apparent throughout my work.
Colour, texture and surface treatments are intensely important aspects. The works are composed using a wide range of media, from inks and varnishes, oils and emulsions to ash, cement, earth and clays, creating sculptural surfaces of structure and form. Each painted layer develops the history of the surface. Materials accumulate and influence as they build towards a rich and engaging visual abstraction, a narrative account, a recollection of place, a reverberation of colour and form.
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