Artist of the Week - Andy Lovell

Andy Lovell artist/printmaker

Observational drawing and painting are the foundation of my work imprinting a memory of place and form that inevitably informs the final printed image.

I use monotyping and silkscreen printing to interprete my initial drawings and paintings exploring the layering of texture and colour which are at the heart of my work.

1 Money spent on the highest quality art materials is never wasted
Investing so much time, emotion and thought into the image making itself, it would be madness to use anything less than the best that you can afford to create the final work.


2 One favourite living craft maker?
Cath Derksema, a fabulous Australian textile designer who creates wonderfully bold and colourful designs all hand printed in her workshop. Her approach is experimental and full of energy.

3 One favourite historical artist?
Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman who was a Dutch typographer and printer and was killed by the Gestapo in 1945. He created very simple strong prints using wooden type and rollers amongst other things. A lesson in concise experimental dynamic printmaking.
YouWorkForThem | Monographs: H.N. Werkman

4 What was the last art/craft/design thing you purchased?
I've just bought a singer sewing machinist's chair off ebay for my studio. It has a cast iron base and bent plywood seat and back and is a beautiful combination of function and design.


5What one product/item do you really covet?
I would love to own a Harry Rochat etching press, I love the design, the shape of the wheel evokes that sensuous Man Ray photo.

6 At age 15 who influenced your style? Was there any individual who very much helped you on your way?
At 15 I didn't know what I wanted to do, my school was hopeless with "artists", if you didn't want to be a doctor, a lawyer or a city broker they didn't want to know.
Fortunately my art teacher Bob Brown was/is an extraordinary man who infused me with his enthusiasm for art, life and garlic and has become a lifelong friend and mentor.

7 How do you set about starting a new project?
I'm learning to commit to paper without questioning too much, allowing the image to emerge based on the emotion evoked by the subject.
There's is always something unexpected that comes out of a session that excites and inspires one onwards into battle.


8 Surprising activity?
Seville marmalade making

9 Do you have a good work/life balance?
This is very hard to get this right in my experience and very hard especially for the poor partner who has to put up with all the artistic angst that goes with it all!

10 What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Hope


11 Would you rather be doing something else?
Absolutely not, to be able to make your own images that then people want to take home and put on their wall is supremely satisfying.
Making "Art" viable financially is the much harder part of the equation though I can see with a ton of self belief and hard work this too can work.

12 What do think are crimes against good taste & decency in art/craft/design?
Cheap framing, over decoration, dingbats

13 Most underated artist?
Definitely not underrated by those that know his work but should be far more widely seen is Charles Shearer a fabulous printmaker drawer/painter whose work can be viewed on Emma Mason's website
Charles's work is poetic and lyrical and technically brilliant.