Sam Marsh

Drawing on, recycling and developing past and present imagery, from modern media to B-Movies, music and much literature these works are half amusing social comment, half material homage but all painting.

The work gains its identity when the interaction between these sources and my brush work comes together in my working space. Self imposed limitations such as working in series of 8 or more at a time, on set sizes, allows me to realise one vision into lots of outcomes. This partly pays homage to the format of a book but more importantly allows me a freedom to be spontaneous and immediate with the decisions I make in the painting process, believing that the first solution is more often the right one.

Reacting to a starting point, such as a collaged image from a magazine or the relationship between two colours, the painting process evolves with more traditional devises in mind, such as the history of image making in painting and the drive to exploit the potential painting will always enjoy. Today there is a huge amount of readily available imagery and information and so young curious artists can feel under great pressure to take in as much as they can and attempt to make fresh sense of it all. This is best realised in my work through the use of collage in the painting process as an element of both picture aesthetic and a means to add content.