ARTIST OF THE WEEK - PERDITA SINCLAIR

Perdita Sinclair
Unique minimal figurative painting on raw canvas and portraiture

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I've wanted to be a painter probably from when I was about 5. I also wanted to marry B A Baracus and live in a tree house with all the forest creatures. So one out of three isn't bad.

What place in the world has inspired you (and why?)
I am very into evolutionary theories and people's connection to places. Now living in Sussex I adore the downs and can see the affinity that many local people have with that landscape. I feel inspired and happy by any landscape which I can blend into and not feel like a pollutant.


How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace?
For better of worse I only paint what interests and challenges me. My work has never comfortably fitted into a pigeon hole and I would hate it to be disposable. I have many questions and feelings which I try to explore in my work. It is what it is away from any fashions or trends in the market.

Who would you say buys your work?
A very diverse range of people buy my work so I don't think that I could stereotype.
E.g. I have sold some work to be the sole feature in a meditation room. I have also known pieces to be flown off to foreign destinations. Once, a few years ago a man got on the tube train I was on in London with one of my paintings. 'That's my painting!' I said, 'No, it's mine. I just bought it' He said.

How do you set about starting a new project?
I avidly keep sketch books so when an idea surfaces into a mission I figure out what are the best ways to research it. Recently I have been lurking in the shadows at the Booth Museum and the Natural History Museum sketching the composition of taxidermied creatures. As well as this I have been pillaging the section on metamorphosis at the library. I should have some results from all this lurking and pillaging in time for the fair.


Where and what is your studio?
My studio is tucked away near Preston Park Station. It is a wonderful little haven for wildlife, sometimes too much e.g. squirrels. There are about 12 artists working in all kinds of different disciplines around the courtyard all happy to come together for many cups of tea. I religiously listen to radio 4 in my studio space and am guilty of singing along to the Archers as well as swearing at the constant themes of death in the afternoon play.

What is your favourite (art) website (and why)?
I would have to say google as I regularly look for my rating to keep an eye on an Emmerdale character, who from some cruel twist of fate, has my name.


Do you have a good work/life balance?
I can never switch off totally from my work. It is not uncommon for me to wake in the middle of the night and fumble for a sketch book. I try and make time for friends and family, though, and keeping to a regimented work week is very useful being self employed.


Do you think art and craft has any real importance?
Besides my own interest in Art I use to wonder how important it was in the world. I now know that it can hold immense power and life beyond our mortal existence and I find this very moving.

Can anything be 'art'?
Marcel Duchamp said that it could if an artist said it was. I think that anything can be art if the viewer thinks that it is.