SOULFUL ART
DRESS WALLS WITH STUNNING ARTWORK BY FINE ARTIST BRUCE ATHERTON, PAINTER FOR THE VATICAN, AVAILABLE AT RUNWAY GALLERY
One of the many artists featured on Runway Gallery, an online showcase of modern art, Bruce Atherton studied advanced life painting in Italy after leaving his job as an advertising art director in his twenties in a bid to satisfy his ‘inner Michelangelo’. He has since received international acclaim including commissions from the Vatican. Here, he shares his inspiration and describes his contemporary approach to the traditional art of oil painting.
Painting is a form of meditation for me. If I don’t do it everyday, nothing makes sense. I’ll spend at least half my day in my studio in Woolwich, listening to music while I work – anything from alternative punk to Buddhist chants. My taste is pretty eclectic – a bit like my approach to art, really. I’ve worked across a range of mediums including painting, photography and sculpture, but my true love is oil on canvas. I like to experiment, and I recently developed a new technique for airbrushing with oil.
I’m inspired by beauty. I search for perfection and truth, whether in a person, a landscape or an idea. I admire people who have the courage to follow their heart and do what they believe in. I’m constantly exploring new ways of expressing myself, so I don’t have a signature style as such, but text often features in my work. I use it as way of expressing thoughts.
I’m drawn to The Old Masters, like Caravaggio and Rodin. It’s what led me to turn my back on the art school system in the Eighties and become an autodidact. The trend at the time was for super abstract expressionism, but I wanted to focus on skills-based art. If you understand technique well, you’re not afraid of letting go. As an artist, it takes guts to expose yourself creatively, I like to think there’s a little of my soul in every piece.
My art makes a wonderful statement in a country home. The canvases I create are colourful and energy rich, so they need breathing space on a wall. I like to think of each piece as having a personality, and neutral surroundings allow them to shine through beautifully well. I’m proud to be part of Runway Gallery and have my work sit alongside that of other talented artists. It’s somewhere buyers are guaranteed the highest quality art.
Browse and buy artwork from Bruce Atherton and other artists at runway-gallery.com