Luke Gilliam's Page

Website

www.zenphyremos.onesite.com

Relationship status

single

College / University

Trebas Institute Toronto

Program

Engineering

Graduation

17 February 2008

Member type

Artist

If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?

Installation, Painting, Photography

I am...

A young painter living in England. Active in the industry including selling work to private collectors in the Bath Bristol Region. Frequently travel to France working with the music collective imuZZic made up of Bruno Tocanne, Adam Daudrich, Louis Sclavis, and Henri Texier to produce music and bring back ideas surrounding free improvisation, minimalism, and symbolism to feed into my paintings based here in the South West UK.

I frequently work at the St James Wine Vaults selling work and mixing live bands The Dusty Stars and Port Erin.

About my artwork

Disturbed, cut, mixed, geometric, multi dimensional, symbolic work often infused with fabric, metal, and blood. Made to sell but directed away from the commercial market in the UK and towards young philosophers and people into media studies.

I have been holding exhibitions since 1994 which include EARLY HUNGER, Toronto, ZENPHYREMOS, Lyon, NUIT BLANCHE, Toronto, SIMPLETON, Bath, BATH OPEN ART FAIR, Bath.

My process. I would say the most profound moments of my life have been studying South American shamanism or 'nagualism', producing jazz music, and listening to Hungarian folk music. In particular it is the sorrow and 'ungraspability' or 'intangibilty' (or just 'mystery' if that is easier) of Hungarian folk music that conjures voyages in my subconscious. I begin with a memory of one of these profound moments and use found objects in my studio such as books and sheet music as the beginning of a shape or symbol that goes direct onto the canvass. It is from that starting point that I build outwards by cutting, scraping and reshaping the source symbol that I realize what needs to be added, either with paint, charcoal, metal, or fabric in order to arrive at a finished piece. In this way I transform my perception of what has ignited me by moving my hands. The movement sets the transformation into motion until the source symbol has become a new being. I do not see these as paintings or sketches but as voicings or statements coming direct from the source of the universe onto the physical medium in my studio. This is my process.

Most of my work is a homage to my friends Bruno Tocanne, side man to the veteran violinist Didier Lockwood, and Heiner Stadler, producer to the late John Lee Hooker and director of Labor Records. It is their ideas that drive me. It is thereby art inspired by experimental music and all of the symbology surrounding it.

Three snippets of information about me from three friends:

"I looked at Luke's work [zenphyremOs]. It's beautiful! It's really amazing. It's also the sort of work that people would want to buy."
Sally Clark - Writer, Vancouver

"(A Passagem) ? uma bela combina??o de texturas, superf?cies e m?dia. Seja enquanto fotografia, colagem ou desenho, eles s?o bem combinados e lembram-nos de que ? poss?vel compor algo belo e mesmo assim provocante. Uma representa??o visual muito expressiva da experi?ncia t?til.? "
Rodrigo O.L.C. Bernardo - Student To Thomas Farkas, Sao Paulo

New Day Volume 1
"I listened to Luke's music. It is strong and to the point. I like it."
Heiner Stadler - Labor Records, New York

Artists I like

Pretty much Joan Miró. In reality though I don't actually care what people are doing. I steal people's work regularly, cut it, edit it and remake it until I arrive at an honest reflection of what I see in the world around me. Thereby I don't care about Joan Miro or any other artist, old or new, here in the UK or overseas. It is irrelevant if you know that creating in the moment is all that exists and that most of people's opinions add up to be of little use to echo the true voice of the source.

Interests

Eating crisps at odd angles and speaking Russian at youth hostels across the UK.

What exhibitions are good at the moment?

They had some lithographs from Guernica at the White Room Gallery which were pretty interesting. Although I basically detest the Victoria Art Gallery (sorry guys) they did present some work recently by Keith Vaughan which was a real eye opener.

The centre of the artworld is

my studio, nowhere and everywhere

My artreview.com URL:
http://www.artreview.com/profile/LukeGilliam
You can use this URL in your email, on your website, or on your facebook profile.