Artist one: Philip Gurrey

Brief information:

Philip Gurrey (b.1984) studied ‘A’ level art at York College from 2000 through to 2002. He gained direct entry to Glasgow School of Art and graduated in 2007. Having sold £11,000 of paintings in his final year degree show and had two works of art stolen from the same exhibition, Philip was immediately picked up by a London gallery, Madder 139. The gallery took Philip’s work to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. In March 2008 Philip won the PULSE Prize in New York, a cash prize for emerging artists of distinction, selected by a panel of international curators, gallerists and dealers.

Opinion:

From a first glance you can clearly see that Gurry paints his subjects with many imperfection, from scrolling through his artwork I can’t help but think that he paints his subjects personalities, using their faces as a base model. Showing their emotional and personal experiences and in some cases showing who they are as a person. One could speculate this by saying that, most people would be painted looking ‘ugly’ as most people have a dark interior. So much would be true about most, if not all of his models, if this was the case.

Another theory is that he shows the experiences of the individual through the paintings. He shows the bruises and scars left by physical/mental batterings throughout the course of the subjects lives. Saying this, none of his paintings seem to be, well, for arguments sake let’s say ‘pretty’. If i were to put this theory into practice in my own work I would show some subjects with enhanced qualities. Making them seem ‘fake’. No scars/imperfection/bruising could also show the models as having a sheltered life. Not being subjected to the hardships of a standard lower-middle class existence paired with constant praise from loved ones would lead me to create the subject with no imperfections, perfect complexion and a joyful if not meaningful look on the face. Further showing that the model is happy, content. I think I may include some of the aspects in this opinion in my final work, Using artists to gain inspiration from opinions on their work is often a fun way to find something you haven’t put into practice in your work before.