The Monthly discusses the life of an artist with local artist, John Price – Part 1 – The question of drawing

Do you have any early memories of being interested in art?

I remember making a chalk drawing of a boat on the underside of a wooden wall cabinet in our house. I was four and it was a secret and I didn’t tell anyone about it. I used to draw on the backyard wall and on the pavements of our street. The local library was close to my primary school and I loved going there and getting art books on a Friday.

Did you get support at home?

Yes. My mother supported me all down the years and encouraged me to go to London. She enjoyed going to my exhibition openings with my sister, Margaret. My sister is a collector of my work and continues to support me. She is currently organising a display of some of my paintings at her law practice in Worcestershire.

Did you get support at school?

Not at primary school, but later, at secondary school, I was taught by Eugene Gallagher, a painter of enormous talent who read more than anyone I had ever met. He introduced me to
Zola, Balzac, Camus, Maupassant , Debussy, Hardy and Aristotle. He supported me greatly, encouraging me to go to art college.

Eugene Gallagher – Self Portrait – (Courtesy – John Price)

We painted together at the Waterworks in North Belfast and he taught me how to draw shapes with colour and how to interconnect the colour with the drawing. Sadly he died when he was 26, the year I started Camberwell.

You went on to study at tertiary level in art. Could you tell us a bit about that?

When I was 18, I did a Foundation course in Art and Design at the Art College in Belfast where I was fortunate enough to have the artist, Peter Hardie, as my tutor. I was immediately drawn to Peter’s warm, friendly, personality and we shared a love for the music of Bob Dylan.

Peter Hardie (Courtesy of John Price)

Peter advised me to go to Camberwell and we became lifelong friends.

John Price at Camberwell College of Arts – (Courtesy – John Price)

How was life at Camberwell?

Camberwell was wonderful! It was the only place to be. The staff were a veritable who’s who of British painting; Euan Uglow, Anthony Eyton, Christopher Chamberlain, Sargy Mann, Frank Bowling, Ben Levene, Dick Lee, Peter Archer, Frank Auerbach, David Hepher.

In my first year at Camberwell I attended drawing classes on a Thursday evening and all day on a Friday. At the National Gallery I made a copy of Rembrandt’s ‘’A Woman bathing in a Stream’. I attended a William Blake seminar group and was invited to go to Cambridge to meet the leading Blake scholar, Sir Geoffrey Keynes.

At the South London Art Gallery (next door to Camberwell Art College), I met David Hockney and Diana Rigg. I remember that they both had a lively sense of humour. After leaving Camberwell, I returned to Belfast Art College for a postgraduate study in painting.

And how was your experience at Belfast Art College?

This was during the ‘Troubles’ and the Art College had, unbelievably, banned the words ‘Protestant and ‘Catholic’!

Joseph Beuys – 1921 to 1986

When the German artist and teacher, Joseph Beuys visited,I had a tutorial with him and he told me that he liked my work and that I was a ‘particular landscape painter’. Imagine my surprise, and horror, when I saw him confronted by a senior lecturer and told to ‘‘take himself and his naive bloody circus to hell out”. This would never have happened at Camberwell.

It didn’t take me long to realise that the standard at Belfast Art College was considerably lower than at Camberwell, and I soon regretted coming back. The lack of knowledge of art history was particularly frustrating.

After this I attended University of London and Ulster University for my teaching qualifications.

How did you develop your technique and craft?

By increasingly using drawing to approach an idea. Drawing is fundamental to my practice. It enables me to explore different compositional solutions and encourages an intimate
understanding of surface appearances and the structure of the landscape.

I work back in the studio from drawings and oil studies made on the spot, trying to keep the spontaneity of direct observation. Van Gogh said ‘The root of everything is drawing. One can go more quickly from drawing than the other way around’.

John Price – Rain Drawing 2    2023 – charcoal on paper – 17x23cms (Courtesy of John Price)

Development also came through a willingness to take risks, by intuitive revisions, trials and errors. Also by trying to avoid closing a painting too early or overworking and not being the
servant of literal appearances.

John Price – Lagan, sunlight and shadow  2023 – charcoal on paper – 122x152cms (Courtesy of John Price)

 

To see more work by the artist, John Price – see the following link – www.johnpriceartist.com

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