Keith Epps

Website: http://keithepps.blogspot.co.uk/

Email: keithepps@gmail.com

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Statement

Any artwork should grab the attention of the viewer, and reward at first glance. With longer exposure, it should fulfill its potential to convey the feelings and ideas of the artist – of whatever discipline - and provoke further thought.

Ideally that is…

My own work is representational, though not photorealistic, and relies heavily on reference material – drawn or photographed. My subject matter is not limited to specific genres, but I have been led to landscape through a fascination with clouds and the sky. Figures are a constant preoccupation; I habitually sketch passers-by from the window as a warm-up exercise.

I enjoy the technical business of painting, and work mainly in oil paint and watercolour. I tend to use watercolour to draw rapid, transient events from life - figures and skies - while the more complex easel work is done with oil paint, using a variety of oil mediums. Different oils, with varnish, have smoother or stickier paint qualities, and lend themselves to harder or softer marks. Stroking and blending the oily paint softens and rolls it, and I like the even surface that results. Whenever possible, I try to exploit the transparency and opacity of the pigments I'm using.

When composing, I frequently use photoshop for testing ideas - the initial elements of the work can be changed and adjusted more easily and accurately than with multiple separate evolutions on paper. A lot of my image sources are from photographs anyway, and I find some of my landscapes and skies on google streetview.

For some time now, I've been driven by one of the least original ideas in art – Et in Arcadia Ego - where the dark and painful exists within the light and beautiful. For me, these ideas had their genesis in watching the 1990s Yugoslav wars on TV; I found it hard to reconcile those ghastly events happening within such a beautiful setting.

Underlying all my future work will be the constant development of painting technique and drawing skills in order to better communicate how I see the world – in particular the ever-changing sky - and further development of my use of the human figure; which has a unique and infinite potential to induce emotional resonance.

March 2019

Biography

Biography
Son of Ernie and Doreen, and Brother of Ian
Married to Colby Adams

1954 - Born in London, brought up to Edinburgh in 1965.
Studied Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art 1973-77. Diploma in Art(Edin)

Post-college, I briefly door-stepped for house-drawing commissions. During the next decade, rarely exhibiting, I produced figurative work that reflected my personal fears, doubts, and anxieties.

My painting output decreased on moving into serious antique furniture restoration, and I ceased painting altogether by the late 1980s upon becoming self-employed.

Having resumed painting in 2007, I have continued to work with figures. My subject range has widened, and now includes landscapes and skies, but can still be unsettling. My attachment to representational work, using oil paint or watercolour, remains strong.

I live and work in Edinburgh.

Development
2019 SSA (Society of Scottish Artists) - Selected
2019 Open Eye Gallery - Edinburgh - On a Small Scale - Mixed show
2018 SSA/VAS Open - Selected show
2017 Open Eye Gallery - Edinburgh - On a Small Scale - Mixed show
2017 Union Gallery – Edinburgh - Mixed
2016 SSA
2016 RSA Open (Royal Scottish Academy) - selected
2016 Union Gallery – Edinburgh – 'Reunion' - mixed
2015 SSA
2014 VAS (Visual Arts Scotland) - selected
2014 SSA
2014 Union Gallery - Solo show ‘Dark Arcadias’
2013 SSA
2012 Private Commission
2012 SSA
2012 VAS
2011 Private Commission
2011 SSA
2011 Hanover fine arts - Edinburgh - mixed
2009 Hanover fine arts - Edinburgh
2008 Private Commission
2008 Colours gallery - Edinburgh - mixed

an interval

1984 SSA
1982 SSA
1977-78 House-drawing commissions

1973-77 Edinburgh College of Art

CV

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