Art should be, primarily, a form of communication. An adjunct of language, art can articulate those things which words cannot. Moreover, the most attractive aspect of art is its universal nature; it is able in many instances to utterly transcend the boundaries which language, time or geography can create.

One can use words to describe a particular painting, but if the painting is a successful one, then the words themselves will fall short of wholly imparting the sensation of standing before the painting. Indeed, it seems to me that, providing one is familiar enough with the culture from which the particular painting has arisen, a great test of a painting’s success is whether or not it requires any explication through language; to look upon it should be enough. In this sense, I am wary of works which seem to require supporting texts or prior learning to ‘understand’ them. Just as the greatest orators can communicate their ideas and thoughts clearly and intelligibly to their audience regardless of that audience’s prior knowledge or understanding of the subject and without recourse to handing out supporting documents, so the greatest painters have always been able to communicate to their audiences the themes and ideas which they wish to express through their paintings without necessitating some prior learning of some particular theory of art or some other grandly abstruse intellectual edifice.

While it is true that not all of the greatest paintings have as their subject something beautiful – war, for instance – it is still the case that the greatest paintings by and large are objects of great beauty. This has always been of vital importance to me, and I believe very strongly in the power of beauty. It is to be found in the mathematics that describe the universe and its workings, as well as in the turn of a smile. It is universal, and yet so difficult to define as to be impossible. Like intelligence itself, beauty is quixotic, personal, shaped by culture and utterly confounding. It can be overwhelming, attractive, scarce, joyful and contemplative – sometimes all of these at once! – But among humans, its appreciation is universal. I, quite personally, feel beauty to be of great importance in painting and try wherever possible to make it the overarching theme, subordinating all other content to it.

Painting is an intellectual pursuit. Painting does require prior learning. Painting is rigorous and of a technical nature, but a painting should not necessarily lay the burden of these demands upon its audience. I strive constantly to paint in a manner which fulfils these criteria - to create work which communicates those things which I cannot say with words, to communicate them clearly and, hopefully, to do so through the dialect of beauty.

Andrew Brady

Artworks by Andrew Brady

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