Interview
Ashley Gray
Ashley was born in 1986 and has lived in Woolwich, England, for most of his life. Having a strong interest in digital images while studying multimedia at university, he became interested in 'ZBrush'.
In 2011, after completing his masters from Teesside University at 25, he set out to gain skills as a technical 3D artist. But despite being noticed, he was unable to find work. There was a point where he decided to focus on imagery rather than technical creations, and to his surprise, he started to gain ground in a different arena.
As his career progresses, he is spending more of his time creating images and growing his concepts. He has received features and awards from websites such as Creativepool, and he continues to grow, holding top 25 spots in the online digital arena after much dedication to his work.
Ashley spends most of his time either working in a library and refining ideas, or growing his skills. His goal is to be better, to be able to capture more of what he sees and feels, but most importantly, to create milestone works. This goal of creating these certain images keeps him focused.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My education revolves around computers, games art and multimedia. I have been making art for around 10 years.
My journey started when I was introduced to digital 3D at college. It was a small aspect of the multimedia course I was doing. The teacher opened my mind to a new world, and I guess we could say this is where my journey began. But to me, it really started after I graduated university.
I didn’t have a job and it was difficult because I’m from a family where you’re expected to have a stable job. I tried applying for various positions, but I would be either overqualified or not have enough experience. And so I started just creating images because I liked it. It helped me deal with the things I was going through and the many sacrifices I had made.”
What inspires you?
“Two main things inspire me: one is this character 'Blue', which is a representation of a person. The other thing that inspires me is life, or the world.
The character Blue (my main image in most instances) is my influence, my single greatest driving force. In short, it convinced me why I should believe in kindness, love, tolerance and all those ‘uncool’ things; to try your best to remain un-jaded by the world, or to find balance that so that you are connected with the people around you. The reason that is so important is because they need you. It sounds simple, I know.
The world inspires me because it’s what we have, but our minds as Humans are incredible things. We have achieved such greatness, but we are still shaky and deceptive. We live in a kind of super-imposed world that we can’t quite understand. It’s just not a possible thing for one human. I like to focus on those resulting quiet tragedies because I have my own, which is why many depictions of myself have a tail.”
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A recurring theme in my work is psychology, because we all have certain experiences as humans, such as loss. No matter who you are, we all sense a coercion; we all know a quiet desperation. This dynamic where we will all suffer from these overwhelming wounds of the mind, where only love will save us, and this we already know.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“My work, to me, has a theme of the darker side. I like to draw inspiration from the distance between the natural world and the superimposed world, and I’m always drawn to the dark outcome. For example, in one of my first works 'The Dead Cry for the Living', people see a crying skull. But to me, it is about how we cry for the loss of a person at their funeral. We mourn them and then will spend the rest of our life crying for all the things that we will go through. This concept came to me because I realised even when I am dead, I will still have grief.
I also like superheros and demons because they offer something that can sometimes be easier to work with. I have a few images of Batman and I think they are popular because everyone understands who Batman is as a character, so I don't have to explain it to them. Same with demons; you know when you see one what you’re looking at. I dont have to convey that in the image, so it’s one less hurdle to overcome.
Though my work is very dark, my message is love. My art name is Human because I am one. That is all that is important: that I have a mind and am alive. Not my sex, age, nationality etc. That may be of importance to you, but it’s not what actually matters.”
Which artists influence you most?
“This is a hard question. I like a few 3D artists and a few traditional artists, but not many of either. I like Mike Thompson and Viki Yeo because of their incredible 3D talents, but also their influence on my journey, I also like Edgar Allen Poe and the Spanish artist Goya, both because they helped me ‘get it’. I always questioned whether the art I was making was 'worth’ people’s time, and my own time as well. I still question this a fair bit, but these artists remind me that it IS worth it; that for those fifty images you make, there will be one that shows something in such a way that people need. Edgar Allen Poe's ‘The Raven’ is a strong example of this.”
“My art has two layers - the first layer is the image and the second layer is the idea itself. I want people to see my work but think, ‘What am I seeing?’
My work is very self-explanatory on the surface, but you are supposed to question what you are seeing, for example, not so much if the dog is actually a dog in the image - that aspect is very clear.”
How would you describe your work?
“It’s very intense. It’s not abstract hinting- it has ideas inside the images that I hope people take away, but the image itself is very direct. A lot of my work (I hope) describes a quiet grief in an intense way. I explore a kind of collective despair. Even if you have not experienced what I am showing you, you understand it. You could think of its horrors for the day but you will never know it like someone who has lived it, and many of them we all live.
My more recent work 'Distress Signals' shows grasping hands in darkness. Among other things, it shows the darkness of life and hope, like so many things do. We all understand this because we all live this, but I chose to show it in an intense way.”
What is your creative process like?
“It’s mostly thoughts and ideas. It starts from a single framing, say a mother’s loss of her child, or the weight or the personality choices we make. Then I create a kind of mental spider diagram of things connected to it, like the theme and tone of the idea, what to show, what will work with what. I find inspiration around symbols and then focus on the framing of the final shot.”
What is art’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“For me, art’s role is to express and enlighten people. There are some great works of art and they all show something in a way that captivated so many people. But not everything is a world-breaking masterpiece, and I think this is how art is evolving.
Art has always given other people (that are not the artist) a view into something that seems outside of the world or day-to-day. Art is connecting people around things they cannot easily explain in words. This is a very powerful thing and it at times guides us. Yes, you can use art to just scare the hell out of humanity, but I think that is short-lived and we are realizing that again.
Some people are using art to draw attention to political issues or world problems. Others are using it to just conjure up nice feelings for others or help people through trauma, but these people are all using it somehow, and I hope that we see it evolve into more aspects of our reality.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I’m tempted to say that my work was shown at Virgin Media Festival back in 2016, but my most noteworthy exhibition has to be my first one, 'Why Suffer Alone' a solo exhibition..
The Artfix gallery were so nice and supportive of me. I had no idea how anything worked at all, but Justyna supported me through the whole thing. She was incredible. A lot of people had faith in me along the way to help me be the artist I am, but she put in the most work and even continued for some time after the show. It wasn’t a huge exhibit, but it put me on the path that I am now.”
