Christopher Aggs VPRBA

Statement

Chris Aggs sees himself as a realist painter and prefers to work directly from observation. He is endlessly fascinated by the task of translating what he sees into paint and considers that the world in front of his easel contains more wonderful variety than anything he could ever dream up himself.

Chris is mostly at home working outdoors but has a studio in West Sussex with printmaking facilities where he also undertakes a variety of work to commission. Ideas for his paintings present themselves constantly in the landscape, among objects in the studio and recently while observing musicians absorbed in the activity of music making.

Methodology

Chris Aggs prefers to work from direct observation and his paintings nearly always begin with a series of drawings as a means of getting acquainted with the subject rather than as a means of fixing its contours. He usually works in oil paint on board, and sometimes on canvas. Frequently the work will be carried out plein-air although he does make on-the-spot sketches if the weather is variable or time presses. He prefers to complete larger, more considered works on site rather than in the studio. This always means changing and re-working the painting to fit current conditions and often means repeated visits over many months, sometimes even returning to the same spot at the same season over several years.

Like most figurative artists for the past 150 years, he is affected by photography and does use photographic references when he cannot rely on his own observation; for instance when things are happening too fast to draw! However it is important to him to re-invent the photographic image through the medium of oil paint rather than try to make a copy.

Bio

1951 Born in Horsham, West Sussex

1970-3 Read English Literature at University of Oxford and began drawing lessons at The Ruskin School, Oxford

1974 Studied Painting and Printmaking at City & Guilds of London Art School and continued at the Royal Academy Schools graduating in 1980

1983 Married artist and illustrator Patrice (Osborne) Aggs

Established practice as Artist and taught Drawing, Painting and Printmaking at the City & Guilds of London Art School, Northbrook College, Worthing and University of Chichester Dept of Fine Art

2012 Retired from teaching to concentrate on his own work

2013 Elected member of the Royal Society of British Artists