Revolve Gallery

Anthony Barrow

Wigan based artist Anthony Barrow is married with three children he has been creating artwork for over 30 years, initially he trained as an engineer with British Leyland never happy working a nine to five hour day in 2002 he accepted redundancy and decided to commit to his art full time, he enrolled on a BA (Hons) Fine Art course at University of Central Lancashire, graduating in 2005 with a 2:1. To earn an income he worked for Wigan and Leigh College in the adult and community learning sector whilst at the same time studying for a Certificate in Education. As well as being a professional artist he runs his own classes, provides demonstrations and workshops in the Lancashire and North Cheshire areas for private art organisations and still teaches for the ACL sector.

Background

Anthony is a member of NAPA, the National Acrylic Painters Association and MIFL, Member of the Institute for Learning he is also a member of the OK Studio Collective a group of artists that are based at Standish near Wigan.

Anthony is predominantly a figurative painter with a prolific output, which often overflows into the disciplines of landscape, still life and abstract painting. Chiefly commissioned based his vast experience and natural talent for capturing the underlying character of his sitters have led to numerous projects, he has exhibited throughout the UK and has work in private collections across Europe and the USA.

In 2005 he won 1st prize in the prestigious Art of Love Exhibition at the Oxo Tower Wharf in London with his painting “The Others”

September 2007 he won the Daler Rowney best British painting category at the NAPA 23rd International Exhibition, held at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms in Shropshire.

Early in 2007 he was invited to appear in the BBC 2 program “Rolf on Lowry” a televised event where he worked alongside Rolf Harris in the reproduction of Lowry’s painting of ”Piccadilly Gardens” in Manchester. More recently (2008) he was commissioned by Tote Sport to produce eight portraits of celebrities using the horsehair of the 2006 Grand National winner Numbersixvalverde. The finished paintings where exhibited at Aintree over the three days of the Grand National event they are now to be auctioned off to raise money for the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Imagine Appeal. In late 2008 he was 1st prizewinner of the landscape/urban category at the SAA Artist of the Year Competition in Waterperry, Oxfordshire.In 2009 he is the 1st prizewinner of the figurative artists of the year award of the SAA.

Inspirations

Anthony does not like to produce work in any one particular style he is forever experimenting with mediums and surfaces, his portraits are not just about capturing a likeness, like a photograph, but more about the spirit, what lies underneath, like the memory of a loved one he tries to show us our true self.

Influences include Gerhard Richter, Lucian Freud, Eric Fischl, the Impressionists and the Italian Renaissance artists and his philosophy revolves around the following statement: -

“The context within which we experience an event will determine how that event is encoded and retained”

(Oxford Companion to the Mind- Richard L Gregory- 1987)

To the 2D Surface

I prefer to work from life wherever possible or back in the studio from sketches and photographs. Each painting is an exploration, an exciting adventure whether it be figurative, landscape or abstract, the work changes as the process of painting progresses with each brush stroke, but for me there comes a point where my personal feelings, my history concerning the subject matter takes over that is the point when I believe I am creating something unique. I like to use a variety of mediums acrylic, oils, watercolours, pastels etc each process reveals different techniques and ways of representation, the surfaces and the tools I use to apply the paint also have a profound effect on the image but spontaneity is my main ally I cant spend too long over an artwork if I do I loose the initial excitement.