more is less [ 2016 ]

more is less [ 2016 ]

anwastad strydoedd [ illustration ]

steve coel

i'd guess that practically all the art seen by most people today 

are reproductions of the original and that most of that is seen on-

line.


this question of encountering the original is not new. but seeing 

the original through posters, books, postcards etc., asks questions 

about the experience.


in my pictures i focus primarily on reproduction and an expectation 

that my audience recognise this. 

lavernock point / penarth [ 2016 ]

steve coel

so why do i often find myself becoming defensive when explaining 

this to other artists?

the process of picture making has changed in the last few decades 

and so has the audience.

the reproduction is now becoming the original picture because the 

reproduction is  now the original experience of the picture by the 

audience.


steve coel

less is more. An 11.59 Publication

 An 11.59 Publication

steve coel

less is more.


having spent a period creating pictures that i increasingly 

felt uncomfortable with  i felt i really needed to break away and 

make pictures that were more spontaneous, intuitive, abstract, 

even improvised.


struck by both the attitude and approach to creativity of Billy 

Childish, it got me thinking.


so recently i've been trying to remove the possibility of a 

narrative in my pictures. this is a very difficult thing to 

achieve. in the studio we discussed the possibility of removing 

titles to pictures and using numbers only. 

but what about the sequence created? 

episodic ideas? 


even having a working title Stryd Fawr / Stryd Uchel [ 2016 ] 

would inevitably, it was felt, conjure up a framework for 

interpretation, no matter how the pictures were made.


so, like Billy Childish, i'll work within the limits i create, 

not others.

steve coel  

An 11.59 Publication