copyright anthony viney

INFLUENCES

 

According to my dictionary, Influence is "The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone." 

For an artist this can be a tricky area, as I don't believe that anything really influences an artist's innate inner drive and vision. But I guess that still leaves an awful lot else on which to have an effect!

The influences on my development as a painter are so diverse that I hardly know where to start. But Bath Academy of Art at Corsham, and its tutors, were definitely one kind of influence - a kind of micro climate that has almost imperceptibly affected my development. It wasn't until long after I left Corsham that I realised how tutors like Adrian Heath, Michael Kidner and Peter Kinley had passed on a particular approach to painting. It was partly them - and partly the history of the school with its strong post-war St Ives connections - that left their mark on me. This influence is even more surprising as I didn't thrive in that very particular micro climate! But none the less it affected my understanding of what painting is and how to be a painter.

Another influence is photography. Paul Caponigro's photographs resonate deeply with me and his images are closer in spirit to my work than any paintings I can think of. That underlying sense of presence born out of emptiness is so beautifully realised in his work.