NEW RELEASES
Happy-go-lucky by nature and utterly unpretentious, Dylan is fast becoming not only one of the UK s most successful artists but also one of its most popular. He seems to paint for the sheer joy of it and when asked to sum up his style, immediately uses the accessible language of an artist at ease with himself and his work: happy, fun, colourful? he ventures with a smile. Perhaps we should add ingenious, innovative, and of course, successful! Dylan takes the idea of a familiar city that we all know and invites us to see it through new eyes. His idiosyncratic view of undulating skylines, famous buildings and busy metropolitan scenes encourages us to re-examine our view of the world, and offers a distinctive contemporary take on urban life. Whether he transposes historic monuments to create a completely new horizon, plays with perspectives, exaggerates planes and angles or introduces unexpected details into the foreground, his pieces brim with fun and colour and provide a genuine artistic talking point in any interior. This unique approach to cityscape paintings has made a huge impact on art lovers across Britain; but what was it that first led him down this whimsical artistic path? What inspired him to come up with this summer s glamorous and stylish new presentation style on aluminium? And what s he going to do next? We thought it was time we asked Dylan some of these questions, and a few more...
Times Travel Aluminium Print Edition Size 195 33 x 19 995
Dylan, can we start with your new releases? You ve chosen to create a pair of homages to Manhattan and Central London in your signature style but they do represent something of a departure in that they have a new twist as far as presentation is concerned. Could you tell us how this came about?
I was thinking about ways of bringing the limited editions even closer to the originals. I m always pleased with how they look, but thought it might be time for a new innovation! I actually create all my original paintings on aluminium. It s fantastic working with a metallic surface as it gives each scene a real extra layer of vibrancy. I start with a sketch, then draw over the top at speed, to almost liberate the image and allow for what I like to call happy accidents. Then comes the painstaking process of painting gloss paints into each individual shape. Once the whole piece is coloured I draw all the lines back on top with black paint. This process takes an average of 100 hours of work for each piece. I thought it would be really interesting to see how the limited editions would work on aluminium and as you ve seen, they look amazing super stylish and contemporary. I was delighted when I saw the first ones, and hope the collectors like the fact that they are now even more faithful representations of the originals.
What first took you down the path to whimsical cityscapes? It was actually partly by accident I think. I was working all over Europe through the summers as a street artist and so got to see a lot of fantastic architecture. I did a lot of fast sketching in pen and ink, and I began to find myself seeing shapes and patterns within the facades of the buildings. I started to develop this by compiling the composition from these shapes rather than just drawing it as a whole if that makes sense, and it has evolved from there. time with the kids. Once they re asleep I go back to the studio until about midnight. I try to work less hours at the weekends just to avoid Becky leaving me! There isn t really a typical work pattern but I generally try to work in stages. I may work purely on drawing for a week and then the next three weeks I ll be painting from the drawings I ve made. But, sometimes I ll be so excited about a piece that I will have to do the whole thing in one go. Who are your artistic roles models and who has inspired you the most? How do you choose your subject matter and do you have any favourite buildings? It has to be an interesting building or a scene that has shapes I can work with. Most of the time I ll know as soon as I see it and I ll get that excited feeling where I can t stop myself from painting it. I have to confess a particular fondness for the Sydney Opera House; I used to live in Sydney and did paint it several times, but that was before my style had developed into what it is today. Now, when I try to play with the building in my artwork it s a real challenge, because the architect, Jorn Utzon beat me to it and did that already! I don t have one particular role model but I ve always really admired people who have motivation and a passion to succeed. In terms of a favourite artist that would have to be Lucian Freud who I admire for his amazing technical ability and the way he almost sculpts the paint. I m always attracted by art that is completely different from my own, so I love abstracts generally. I am always so caught up in detail that I recreate and manipulate, whereas they do something so completely different that I m intrigued, often fascinated by their work. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? Can you describe a typical day in your life? Well I live on a farm near Stratford-upon-Avon with my partner Becky, 2 kids, 2 pigs, 3 chickens, and a horse that, to be honest, I don t really like. I work every day and every evening during the week but I don t make it into the studio until after I ve fed the pigs, let the chickens out and done the school run. I work through till 6.30pm then go back to the house to spend some I don t really visualise my career and I also don t feel I have an enormous amount of control over it, I just keep working as hard as I can and keep painting the best paintings that I can paint and I ll follow where that takes me. No doubt that will sound odd to most people with proper jobs but I think if I continue with this work ethic my career should take itself in the right direction...
I thought it would be really interesting to see how the limited editions would work on aluminium and as you ve seen, they look amazing super stylish and contemporary. I was delighted when I saw the first ones, and hope the collectors like the fact that they are now even more faithful representations of the originals.
Whistle Stop Tour Aluminium Print Edition Size 195 33 x 19 995