Ed Cousland's Profile

From: United Kingdom
Joined: March 19, 2008
http://www.artreview.com/profile/ed

About edcousland5286:

I don’t know why I paint, I just do. It is a mere extension of my inner self.
My hand is the bridge in which my inspirations and urges travel onto canvas and transform into shapes and form bound together in colourful harmony.
I let the paint speak for itself and have its own views. The relationship between the application of the paint and the final positioning of the paint is therefore perfect for the canvas.
I discover ways in which the different mediums react and complement each other, and I use the different ways in which they do that to organize them into a sequence which will reap the best results.
The main issues that arise through my work are how colour exists through different techniques and processes of application and its expressive instincts.
I draw my inspirations mainly from how the paint moves and how underlying textures of under layers are so important to the upper layer of the paint. Artist wise, I draw my inspirations from American abstract expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock for the application process of creating a painting and Barnett Newman for the bright colour pallet and the large fields of colour. Theory wise, I draw inspiration from the Surrealist movement of how they liberated the mind towards freedom of image and thought. I find their discoveries and practices very influential and though provoking. Finally I would have to say that my main influences would come from Germany. The two main names in my practice that influence me are Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer. The way in which they work the canvas to create a painting generates new ideas for me of how to apply the paint and create an image through process. I like the way that their paintings have a dirty feel about them, they are not always pretty pictures to look at, and they contain grime and menace. My paintings don’t contain those two aspects, as I use bright colour and bold shapes, but they really do pull the strings in my brain when I look at them and I always come away from looking at their works with fresh ideas and excitement in my mind.
I feel that my paintings are a breath of fresh air to my art world. They brighten up the room and dominate at the same time without being menacing. They have many stories internal of the many layers that are used. Each work has many lives to give and many lives to be discovered within the work.
I am a painter.