Interview with Artist David Hunt

Artist Statement

The focus of my work is synonymously related to nature and landscape. It is an investigation of nature, its forms, its sublimate captivation and the paradigm of how we align our position, perceptions and reactions to them.

Predominantly my subjects derive from arboreal environments, which I record with photography, sketch making, and through the internalisation of personal experience. Hence, when we find ourselves in an environment where the realisation of aloneness becomes internalised, there can be various responses. Angst, vulnerability, fear, adrenaline, but paradoxically, these feelings can also be interpreted as vision, freedom, liberation, and excitement. They can be either comforting or discomforting and this to me is a reflection of our individuality…

Q: What medium or mediums do you work with?

A: Currently I am working with various mediums which include but are not limited to: ink, PVA, oil paint, digital imagery on paper, on canvas.

I feel that restricting oneself to a single particular medium denies the artist a degree of creativity which cannot exist without the unpredictable nature of mixing mediums. It is at those times when the medium seems to take over that the artists sense of loosing control is in fact the artist at the height of his creativity.

Q: How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?

A: My first response to your question is; always. I think that everyone in their early life is an artist, but only a few of these artists learn how to continue being an artist. For me, I knew that I was an artist during my school years and enrolled on as many arts related classes as possible. I finished school at the age of sixteen in 1984, but was discouraged from pursuing a career in art. I became distracted by money and work and became an electronics engineer.

After about six years I felt empty and tired. I tried to fill this emptiness by enrolling on an evening course for advanced level fine art painting in 1990. This helped me but financial commitments meant that I had to continue working in electronics. Another eight years later and I had had enough. I became too disenchanted to continue in electronics.
I knew then that I must explore my potential as an artist, and so 1998 was a turning point in becoming the artist that I am now.

Q: Do you have any formal training or are you self taught?

A: My formal training, I suppose, really began in senior school with ‘O’ level Fine Art, Technical Drawing, and Craft Design Technology. As previously mentioned I then later earned an ‘A’ Level in Fine Art Painting on an evening course at college, this is where I was introduced to oil paint.

After my ‘A’ level, any advancement of my knowledge was self taught. I read books but mostly I just experimented with oil paint by trial and error. I soon learned that it is the errors or mistakes that one makes which ultimately advances ones skill. I might have been happy to continue self educating myself, but the reality of the modern art market is that qualifications count when it comes to finding representation in high profile galleries. Some artists manage to carve out an arena of critical debate around their work from being self taught, but in most cases a Degree is beneficial or even essential too an artists career, and so I began my Bachelors Degree with honours in fine art painting and drawing at the University of Northampton in the UK. I am entering my final year and graduate in 2010. I plan on continuing my studies to go on and earn a Masters Degree the following year...

Read the entire artist interview here.