CCA are delighted to present new original work by Dan Baldwin

CCA are thrilled to present new original work by Dan Baldwin at Art London next week. We caught up with Dan to find our more about them....

CC: Dan, fans of your prints may not be aware of your work with vases, could you tell us how this came about, and what appeals to you about this medium?

Dan Baldwin: The vases started about 6 years ago by accident. I was doodling on a cheap pot from the pound shop that I'd bought- I'd been buying dog sculptures from pound land, hand-painting them and selling them in Selfridges. Then I had a lightning bolt moment in the studio where I thought of creating a range of vases with my spontaneous doodles on them. Over the years I've developed them to become an extension of my painting practice and they have proven to be  a very successful part of my output. The contrast between a beautiful feminine pot and darker subject matter interests me, and I think it is why they are successful; they are unique, unusual and beautiful.

CC: Could you tell us a little about the particular vase that will be on display at Art London?

DB: This is the largest vase I have made to date (I must clarify I am not a pot-maker, I work with a potter) 60/70cm high. It has to be made in sections on the wheel- very difficult! For the next series we are moulding in clay to create 3-D raised elements protuding from the sides.

(an earlier example of a vase by Dan Baldwin- not the vase to be shown at Art London)

CC: Thunder Coming is one of your new paintings, why did you choose to make this piece on wood rather than canvas like your other two new works?

DB: I hadn't painted for a month or so, and I just had the urge to make a piece just for me, just to paint. So I cut some wood as it was all I had, and just lay down colours and shape and it become Thunder Coming .

CC: Thunder Coming is a very powerful and ominous title, could you pick up on the main themes you explore in this work?

DB: Each painting takes on its own feeling; this had a real static tension about it, like an electricity buzz and it made me think of thunder, and animals hiding, also a radioactive feel to it- a storm brewing up. It explores the chaotic harmony between science, nature and man. The title could also have a double meaning; that's something I love playing with- when you see the crucifix with flames...the storm is brewing....

Thunder Coming

CC: Love. This painting has a completely contrasting atmosphere from Thunder Coming, it gives off a sense of joy and relaxation on a sunny afternoon. Is there a storty behind this, does the ice lolly hold some significance?

DB: Yes- massive significance. I worked in a video shop for five years or so in Hove whilst I was still on the road to being a full-time artist. It was a great shop; specialised in arthouse cinema and always played good music, and was generally a bit of a hang-out. Annie (my girlfriend) was a regular customer of the shop, I remember serving her for years. One day she stopped coming in. Two years later I was walking along, back from Milan, just off to the train, and I saw Annie coming towards me. I did a double-take and so did she, we had this moment in the street. Months later, one summers day, she walked up to me with an ice lolly, holding it in her hand and said 'you look like you need this'. It was the first time she ever spoke to me and she almost didn't go through with it out of a nervous fear, but she felt she had to make contact. Another six months went by, I was single, so was she, I asked her out for dinner and our date lasted 36 hours. That was five years ago and now we have an 11 month-old baby.

The piece Love was originally going to be called Peach, as that is Annie's favourite colour. Then it became Peach Video Girl, and as the painting grew I changed it to just Love. There is a lot of symbolism in the work: the poppy, the orchid, the swallow, the little girl, the little boy, a bird feeding its young, and the skeletal hand/figure searching for its love even in the afterlife. It was the beginning of this series I want to make called Spectrum; more about colour, harmony, beauty. I also like the melting ice lolly as a metaphor, there's something striking about it, dropped by a child or discarded- left to melt....

Love

CC: Spirit. Does the title refer to the human spirit- the gift of imagination and determination? Or does it refer to a spiritualism in the religious sense? How important is faith as a theme in your work?

DB: I think it is all of the above. It took on this feel of another world- a higher place- up in the clouds-  a place not of this earth. It went throuh weeks of layering until I was happy with it. I didn't want to call it 'Heaven' or 'Purgatory', but wanted it to be outer-worldly. I have faith in my life, not a religious faith, but a positive thinking; I've always had the feeling that I'll be ok- an inner faith, or a voice- but don't think of that as God, its my inner voice that's what I listen to. Some paintings are like a battle to get right. This one was; I had to keep painting over things, cleaning up, re-working. You go through the fight sometimes to make it come good, like you're pulling it and pushing it, and you like this part but not that etc, you work through that until it is solid and balanced and it all unites together. Even if the message isn't clear it's the evocation of feeling that is important. In this piece there is nature, death of nature, religion, anthropology, evolution, conflict. There's a child-like element to it too, a bit of snakes and ladders, of fairy tale, floaty....that's why Spirit worked well as a title.

CC: Thanks Dan!

Spirit

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