Artist of the Month: Ian Boutell
Ian Boutell
1. How long have you been at the Phoenix?
I've been at Phoenix for four years in the most rammed studio, sharing with three other artists.
2. What images keep you company in your studio space?
The studio is full to the brim with work in all stages of finish as well as books and other artists works.
Currently the possibles for H-A-R-D-P-A-I-N-T-I-N-G-x2 take up most of the free space.
3. You are part of the curatorial team organising our upcoming HARDPAINTING exhibition, that draws on a previous show held at Phoenix Art Space in 2018. Could you tell us a little bit about what the HARDPAINTING team have in store for the main gallery, and how this exhibition differs from the previous iteration?
H-A-R-D-P-A-I-N-T-I-N-G-x2 is a big leap forward from the show two years ago. This one is Arts Council funded which has enabled us to make this one show of two parts, with a complete rehang with new artists and artworks midway through the show. There will be 25 artists showing. There are lots of ways of reading the show but for me the underlying theme is that it is about premeditation; careful forethought and high production value finishes. And colour; sizzling as well as cool, some hard-edges, some not, come and see for yourself.
4. Are there any particular works that you are especially looking forward to seeing in the gallery space?
I'd love to see Picasso's Guernica in the gallery but its now too fragile to travel, so we didn't ask!
I know most of the paintings well from the months of work preceding the opening and it would be invidious to pick out any one, but fellow curator Patrick O'Donnell made the observation that the whole is like assembling a painting. The juxtapositions and conversations that one piece has with another beside it, or across a crowded room, at a party where you glimpse someone you want to meet are the really interesting revelations.
5. As well as co-curating the show, you will also be exhibiting some work in Part 2 of HARDPAINTING. How have you found juggling both the role of curator, and exhibiting artist?
The really great thing about being involved has been to meet new artists and to be involved in the debate and choices. This was not always easy, at times it was tough, but the show is the better for it. I'm fond of the architect Peter Eisenman quote when he said that 'if the roof didn't leak, the architect hadn't tried hard enough.' We have worked H-A-R-D.
6. Themes of space, form and structure seems to dominate your own practice. How do these themes compare to the variety of artworks that are being exhibited?
I did architecture for my first degree, so structure and form are inevitable, and I worked for a famous modernist architect Erno Goldfinger so Ive been indoctrinated into Modernism. Now I'm interested in how modernism has moved on; whats new but also whats useful from the past. and the areas which are fundamental to structure are to be found in science, particularly in physics and cosmology, This is sounding too intense!! I do laugh a lot as well.
H_A_R_D_P_A_I_N_T_I_N_Gx2 is in two parts, and runs from 11 January - 1 March.
Check out the supporting events programme which includes talks, workshops, and classes.
Follow Ian Boutell on Instagram.