Interview with:phil pringle artist [philpringleartist]
ART
 | What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist? In my artistic expression I'm primarily a painter. |
| What is your message? Life is a celebration, God is exuberant, creation reflects a colorful, beautiful Creator, and Christ is the center of it all. |
| Your biography in four lines. I serve as the leader of a local C3 church in Sydney, Australia, with colleges, school & TV studio, & also a movement of churches called C3 Global with a vision to plant churches in cities and towns around the world. I seek to communicate Christ and His message through preaching, books, visual media and art. |
| Do you upload your work to the web? If so, where could we see it? http://philpringle.com |
| How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration? When I see a vast plain background with people in the foreground, I see a painting. I walk by the ocean regularly and find much inspiration there. Sometimes in prayer I will 'see' something that I know I should paint. |
| What role does technology play in your creative process? In preparation I sometimes use Art Rage on a PC Tablet, or Brushes APP on an iPad. |
| What is art? I like Marshall McLuhan's statment - 'Art is making the ordinary, extraordinary'.
For me art is having the skill to accurately articulate what the soul is feeling. It is splashing myself across a canvas or extending myself into a sculpture. Art ultimately should enhance, beautify and inspire people resonating with something in their soul that is undefinable to the logical mind but definitely 'felt' by the soul. |
| When do you get your best ideas? When I concentrate on what I will paint. When I see a scene that inspires me. |
| How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not? The first reaction of others, rather than my own. |
| Three creative ideas that you would have liked to have created? Full size brass scuplture of the human figure
Large sculptural cross similar to one of my Cross paintings.
Large resin sculpture of lifeguard carrying a rescued young girl. |
| When and how did you begin to see yourself as an artist? I held my 1st exhibition when I was around 15 or 16. My highest marks at the crucial School Certificate Exam (NZ), were in Art. However, after attending the School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, NZ, I became a follower of Christ, and laid down art for about 25 years, then when I resumed painting, I found the works were popular and people began purchasing them, something that had never happened before! |
| Why do so many artists and creators have such volatile personalities? Possibly the same uninhibited abandonment that allows artists to freely express themselves also weakens the boundaries on their personal management. I don't think this has to be the case though. It is possible to manage ourselves so we do not cause damage to our lives in the process of being uninhibited and freely creative. |
| Do you consider yourself postmodern? Yes, in the artist sense of the word. |
| How should a work of art be evaluated? Skill of articulating the message and capturing the subject.
Has the artist discovered their 'groove'. Does the art have authenticity, or is it just a copy of other's art?
Does it please the beholder? |
| Must an artist reinvent him/herself everyday? No. The artist must discover who and what they are and maximise their potential in being that, and develop that artistic personality to the max. |
| Which artists do you admire and how do they influence your work? Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Gauguin, Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Jeffrey Smart, Pro Hart, Degas.
Their insight into beauty and grace and to capture the mysteries of people, our world and creation inspire me. |
| What do you think about public funding for the arts? It's a good thing. Art enhances the whole of society generally. Works of art create distinctiveness for a community. |
| Is art necessary? As necessary as anything, even though it could easily be argued we can live without it. An artless world is dehumanising and soul destroying. Art brings grace and beauty to society. God reaches into our world through all the arts as much as through anything. Music, song, painting, sculpture, architecture, design, poetry, prose, plays, creative writing, inventiveness have all been enormously significant in bringing Christ into our world. |
| Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold? Yes, a few times I have been reluctant to sell. |
| Is a work of art purchased, or is it better said, that it is the artist who is bought? Probably both. The signature on the bottom becomes an important part of the value of the painting, but if a person doesn't like the painting, they shouldn't buy it, just because it's a famous painter.
To know about the artist can influence whether we buy (into) their art also, however, I think art should stand on its own merit. |
| In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is? If you see the end from the beginning, then you will also see the pathway there, (given that you have the necessary painterly skills including, perspective, coloring, drawing skills). As I paint sometimes the end result begins to form a little differently than anticipated, but mostly these are happy developments from which a fresher image emerges. |
| How do you feel about the fact that the pieces exhibited in contemporary art museums are often of artists already deceased? I see no problem with this. There is a certain 'fragrance' (pleasant memory) that accompanies the death of a person and this somewhat lingers in our perception of their art.
This also reveals a history, recent or not, of the artist's perceptions of the world they lived in. |
| What role have the figures of art dealer, gallery owners, representatives, and intermediaries in general played in your career? These are very important, significant and influential people in the life of any artist. They should give honest, helpful feedback to the artist as to how the 'market' is responding to what they are doing. It is not a compromise of artistic integrity to suit your art to the marketplace. For example, my agent told me once to downsize my paintings because the market for 6ft by 4ft canvases is limited. I like painting large works, but it wasn't hard to include smaller ones as part of exhibitions. Certain subjects suit certain areas better too. Yachts for seaside vacation areas, flowers for Valentines Day time of year, etc. |
| What types of jobs do you usually do? Mostly leadership and preaching |
| Which of your jobs or tasks do you most enjoy? Most all of them. A basic rule for succeeding in life is don't do what you don't love, or maybe better said, do what you love. A person's love for a thing comes through in what they do, whether it's cooking or building a bridge or medicine. We should have enthusiasm for what we do. On the other hand there are some things we have to do that we don't naturally enjoy, so then we should find things to love about those tasks we do. |
| Do you personally collect any items? Yes. |
| What advice would you give to those just beginning? Find your distinctive style, (your groove), draw endlessly, always carry a pencil and draw on anything if you haven't a drawing journal. Jot down ideas for artworks and do them. Improve your art skills all the time. Get inspired by other artists. Get trained in the basic disciplines of art. Visit art galleries and widen your appreciation of the history and breadth of artistic expressions. Get advice from accomplished artists. You'll be surprised how amenable most successful people are to share their experiences and their comments. Everyone needs mentoring at some stage. |
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854 visits Whohub
phil pringle artist
Sydney-Australia
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