Artists Biography
James English
James English was born in Naul, Co. Dublin in 1946. He worked in horse racing before becoming a part time student with NCAD during the 1970’s. An early professor who had an influence was Charles Cullen. Since then he has stylistically evolved.
Location is important to his work in his use of tone, colour, and choice of palette. He has been inspired by Spain where he spends some time each year. He also appreciates Holland and Venice for the sharpness of light and the earth tones of the surrounding area. The physical act of painting is part of his inspiration to create a new painting. He uses objects in his paintings as metaphors – representative of life. The sheer challenge of painting either a still life or a landscape inspires him forward.
He admires the work of Irish painters Patrick Hennessy and Fred Cummings RA. He admires Hennessy for his skill as a draftsman and Cummings for his colour sense. Subscribing to the realist movement his canvases are worked up in the studio. He works from sketches and from colour notes, which he produces in numbers. His still life work is done on the spot. English’s style celebrates a fusion of Whistler’s decorative style with that of the old masters. His incredible facility with light effects and surface texture can be seen in his paintings of Venice but especially in his still life scenes. His choice of objects is not deliberate, and displays his skill while also creating a mood, and in this way differs from the Dutch masters in that he combines the qualities of both.
He does not reject the symbols of modernism and readily admires the artwork of Barbara Rae and John Shinners but he returns to realism in the way he paints because “this is how I want to make art and how I best express what I want to say”. His preferred medium is oil because it reflects the light, tone, and emotion he is trying to capture in a painting.
He exhibits yearly at the Royal Hibernian Academy and his works are in the collections of the former president Mary Robinson, Allied Irish Banks, National Irish Bank, Smurfit Group, the Office of Public Works including Leinster House and the National Library.
