Interview
T.W Godfrey
T.W Godfrey’s art has range and reach. From impressionistic brush strokes in his early works to the sheer emotion that is hard to ignore as you look into story telling eyes of his thought provoking portraits. Armed with an array of styles he is hard to second guess, pin down or even put into a bracket. His paintings are exciting and full of movement, his cityscapes have unique perspective reflecting his personality. His art can be found in private collections as well as walls around the city and adorned on skateboard decks. He is currently working on his new series ‘Camden’, a colourful representation of music, life and attitude. Commissions are welcome!
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I don’t specifically remember starting an art journey; it’s something that’s always been there as far as I can remember. I have vivid memories of drawing my favourite F1 cars as a young boy. I was always sketching something, in my teenage years it was BMX, skate art, hip hop and graffiti and that has stayed a massive part of my life and those scenes always overlapped and went hand in hand. It was only later in life that painting on a canvas happened and that progression seemed very natural, it just flowed like the river meets the sea. In my head those were the oil years. So, art has always been there. No training or university, just me experimenting. I like the idea of an alchemist or crazy scientist just doing his thing behind closed doors while the world spins away and nature’s pages turn.”
What inspires you?
“Lots of things inspire me. I warn you now, I could do quite a list. People that blaze their own trail inspire me, those who are willing to roll the dice and just try something different. From impressionists doing their thing in the late eighteen hundreds to Philadelphia and New York graffiti in the late nineteen hundreds. Words more than anything probably inspire me the most. The beat poets, Hunter S Thompson, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Jim Morrison, KRS-One, Chuck D and Kae Tempest. I could read and listen to them forever. And I’m pretty sure they all rolled the dice.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I don’t really pursue any themes as such, I just paint and write whenever I can and that’s usually every day and then squeeze in some skateboarding as often as possible. My art is not really heavy or political. It’s probably the opposite, it’s probably got tempo. I’m happy when someone says, ‘man, I like that style. That’s a bit different.’”
How would you describe your work?
“At the moment I would say colourful. Substituting normal, perhaps mundane colours for something a bit more vibrant. Colours are there if you want to see them but too many people walk around looking at their feet. Even the forest has a thousand different greens if you want to see them. So, colour has kind of taken over at the moment, oh and angles! I love angles, angles are everywhere, especially if you look up. Which most people don’t.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I like Sisley’s brush strokes. I like the craziness of Ralph Steadman. I like what Hopper sees, I like the light. I like the humour of Banksy. I like the suggestion of Marc McKee. And a little shout to JMB. And the eighties in New York City!”
“Substituting normal, perhaps mundane colours for something a bit more vibrant. Colours are there if you want to see them but too many people walk around looking at their feet.”
What is your creative process like?
“It will usually start with trying to decipher my own scribblings from a notebook in my pocket. That notebook goes most places. Everywhere I look I see paintings, I’ve got hundreds in my mind. So, ideas get scribbled down. When I wake at 3 am, my notebook is next to me because my brain will take off. Then, maybe a rough sketch, maybe two or just prime a canvas and follow my hand. If it’s a portrait of a famous person, I definitely submerge myself into their world, absolutely dive in headfirst, read all about them, paint with documentaries on about them, listen to their music. Feel them, through the whole process start to finish. Other paintings, I’ll play music from classical to hip hop. Some old Smokey room jazz or blues plays in the background while the lone painter paints into the night, maybe even in Paris, with some very questionable lighting. I usually ‘finish’ a painting seven or eight times before finally settling on it.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“The artist’s role is to create. And it’s up to people whether they like it or not, which is debatable of course because it’s art and I don’t think there should be any rules. I can see the next generation creating more and more digital art. But for me traditional art, buying a canvas, touching it, feeling it, the sound of a brush or knife on a canvas, the smell of turps or paint, having paint on your fingers and up your arm, putting your paintbrush in your coffee mug instead of the water next to it. That has soul and feeling, and it’s a doff of the hat to those before. And that’s why vinyl is better than streaming and typewriters are better than keyboards.”
Instagram: @Mindfourfive
