Dial M For Murgatroyd is an early example of a digital construct. The constituent parts are a photograph of the Dorset countryside taken from a speeding train and bits of sketchbook drawings and paintings of various sizes and on various surfaces made in 2020. A new landscape.
Dial M For Murgatroyd is available to buy as a giclée Print (Lucia Ex Pigment on Hahnemühle Agave 290gsm paper).
Each print is accompanied by a digitally signed and numbered certificate of authenticity, in an edition of 200
Art Flyweight III is constructed from elements of improvised sketchbook drawings and paintings made in 2022 and brought together to form a new digital image. One crucial difference from other digital constructs in this phase is the use of felt tip pens. More cartoon-like images came out – as a teenager my dream job was comic artist.
The title is a joke about status in the art world and simultaneously sounds I think like the name of a fictional collector.
Art Flyweight III is printed with Lucia Ex Pigment on Hahnemühle Agave 290gsm paper in an edition of 200 and is available to buy in my shop: richardguest.bigcartel.com
So, Dirt…Dirt is constructed from elements of improvised sketchbook drawings and paintings I made on paper and canvas and brought together to form a new digital image in 2022.
It’s one of a series of digital constructs – a technique I’m still drawn to using – that began years ago. The original idea was to combine the spontaneity of Expressionism with the particular limits of digital tools.
What I like about the technique is the surprise effects that happen when you juxtapose paint and pencil marks from different sources. In this image I can see animals.
Printed with Lucia Ex Pigment by Canon on Hahnemühle Agave 290gsm paper by Klein Imaging in Manchester in an edition of 200. Each print is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Winter II, digital construct, dimensions variable, 2020
So, here are the final two digital constructs using other people’s marks to date. Frustrations seem to drive the work at the moment – I got to the point where other people’s marks could only go so far in a colour composition without the need for gross distortion (which would render the marks and objects somehow meaningless), so I stopped using them.
In the present phase I’ve been raiding my own pictures for marks. You can see the process creeping in in Winter II – there’s a section of my painting Psst! (Orange) in the top right quadrant.
Ropemaker A, digital construct, dimensions variable, 2020
If I could set a soundtrack to these images it would probably be something by John Dwyer. I’ve written about Thee Oh Sees on this blog before, but his other “band” Damaged Bug is just as good, but with a more experimental, electronic edge. Here’s the rather lovely Jet In Jungle.
And here’s where I went next…
Half Broke Horses, digital construct, dimensions variable, 2020
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If you are interested in seeing more digital constructs, there are a lot of them on this blog or you can visit my Instagram here or my website here.
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In early October 2019 David Cook and I visited Peter Doig: Paintings at Michael Werner, and Cy Twombly: Sculpture at Gagosian, both in London. Afterwards, we discussed the shows by email. You can read the resulting conversation starting here.
Here are some elements of new works in progress. The paintings are details from a series based on earthworks and have all been tipped on their sides. The photographs are all of parts of Dorset as seen from a train window. As of fairly recently I have started using elements of my own paintings in my digital constructs.
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And here is a finished digital construct…available as a C-Type photographic print on archival paper from my Big Cartel shop. For a more comprehensive description and for shipping details click here.
The Man Who Looked Like The Other Man, 2020
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If you are interested in seeing more digital constructs, there are a lot of them on this blog or you can visit my Instagram here or my website here.
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In early October 2019 David Cook and I visited Peter Doig: Paintings at Michael Werner, and Cy Twombly: Sculpture at Gagosian, both in London. Afterwards, we discussed the shows by email. You can read the resulting conversation starting here.
Landscape study (171119), digital composite, dimensions variable, 2019
At the moment I’m working with tensions – painting, drawing and digital constructs are feeding into one another with no clear path as to which is the dominant or most important form.
T-2, acrylic paint on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm, 2020
T-2 shot here on our beaten up old dining table. With source drawing below.
Sketchbook page, pencil on paper, 2019
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If you are interested in seeing more digital constructs and paintings as well as street photography (including portraits), visit my Instagram here or my website here.
Winter I, digital construct, dimensions variable, 2019
Winter I (above) is another of the new digital constructs I’ve been working on. I’m having fun with their evolution – more posts soon – and at the same time have started working on paintings that have the shape of landscape as their starting point (T-1 pictured below on our knackered dining table).
T-1, acrylic paint on paper, 42 x 29.7 cm, 2020
Again, more to come…
The Paul mentioned in the title below is Paul Letchworth, a painter I was on Foundation with way back in the mists of time – his work’s lovely and you can see it on his website here. Hello Paul!
Landscape study (281119) for Paul, digital composite, dimensions variable, 2019
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If you are interested in seeing more digital constructs and paintings as well as street photography (including portraits), visit my Instagram here or my website here.
Landscape study (051119), digital composite, dimensions variable, 2019
A couple more examples…in a break from using images of Dorset, the background of the second image is Croydon Road Recreation Ground in Beckenham (where David Bowie performed at the Beckenham Arts Lab Growth Summer Festival in 1969).
Abandoned Bandstand, digital construct, dimensions variable, 2019
For the next paintings I tried to move as far away from imagery as possible – where a shape suggested an object I painted it out, and waited for other shapes to suggest themselves. The idea was to make paintings which did not reference anything except the urge to make a mark and balance a colour composition.
The drawings followed a similar pattern.
And became a more regular output. For all sorts of reasons I needed to make smaller works and started thinking again about digital constructs…
Landscape study (241119), digital composite, dimensions variable, 2019
The Future Is Papier Mâché 