In a collaborative exhibition at The Atkinson, Tony Heywood's spontaneous, collage-like paintings re-imagine and represent the landscape and nature of the Sefton Coast.
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'I see my paintings as a visual exploration of an animistic philosophy that assigns a living soul to all natural phenomena, giving each individual element equal value in its engagement with others and indeed life itself. Everything is given a voice in a conversation where every individual rock carries the same weight as the horizon; where everything is engaged equally in the spirit of place.
My painting process brings together the disparate elements encountered on my walks on the Sefton coast, specifically Formby Beach, my childhood home. They include artificial forms, plants, human activities, environmental forces and atmospheric moods with each commanding a distinct space on the surface of my canvas. The fragmented style is collagic in nature mirroring the idea of the world as a homogenous space in which everything is in a constant sense of flux; dissolving and then re-gathering. As such the paintings have a very restless feel although paradoxically, there is also a sense of peace within them.
Initially, I sketch in pencil in the field then, back in the studio, I work up my ‘characters’ as separate pieces in oil. I then gather them together over a colour wash of sea or beach-scape to create a visual drama; they may appear as either complete forms or simply as abstract coloured shapes.
Following each new walk, I add further layers to the paintings. As the paint and collagic layers gather in ever more complex intensity on the canvas, a deeper conversation unfolds. Shapes and colours continuously metamorphose and coalesce bringing together a series of encounters or moments to reveal a deeper sense of place.
By placing collaged pieces on top of each other I feel as if I am adding fragments of memory whilst at the same time building a new dialogue between individual elements. Capturing this experience of interrelatedness in paint drives my practice.
There is no soft blending between forms; painterly gradation and brush marks exist only within each cut out. Retaining a distinct hard edge is perhaps a deliberate separation of elements on the surface of the collage allowing each unit its distinct potential. However, one entity or form is almost always implicit within another and the final composition represents a conversation both between individuals and between them and my own psyche. I see this as a gathering within the bigger picture; a sort of holism.' - Tony Heywood, 2024
