About John Harmer
Biography
Placing a strong emphasis on the use colour, I enjoy creating textured, complex surfaces in my paintings.
I often refrain from having a particular subject in mind when I embark on a piece, preferring imagery to emerge as I freely mark-make. In building the painting in layers, sometimes sanding back or partially whiting-out, forms begin to suggest themselves. The results can encourage me to bring a figurative picture to fruition or, conversely, to push the painting into abstract territory. Occasionally, the paintings finish up positioned somewhere between the abstract and the figurative.
The influence of a diverse range of artists, including Paul Klee, Ben Shahn, Peter Doig, Turner, Saul Steinberg and George Herriman, is evident in my work. Paul Klee's approach of employing figurative and abstract elements in his work, in particular, resonates with my own practice.
I often refrain from having a particular subject in mind when I embark on a piece, preferring imagery to emerge as I freely mark-make. In building the painting in layers, sometimes sanding back or partially whiting-out, forms begin to suggest themselves. The results can encourage me to bring a figurative picture to fruition or, conversely, to push the painting into abstract territory. Occasionally, the paintings finish up positioned somewhere between the abstract and the figurative.
The influence of a diverse range of artists, including Paul Klee, Ben Shahn, Peter Doig, Turner, Saul Steinberg and George Herriman, is evident in my work. Paul Klee's approach of employing figurative and abstract elements in his work, in particular, resonates with my own practice.
