“Living here, constantly in my own world, has definitely had an impact on my sense of what the possibilities are,” notes the artist, George Rouy, from his home in a converted chapel in Faversham – a small town in the south-eastern tip of England. “The painting studio is quite intense, and I try to keep it very focused when I’m in there”.
The kitchen, bedroom, living room and workshop all occupy the large central volume, collapsing any division of public and private, work and rest, into a single space. Here, the artist dabbles in music – guitars and keyboards are strewn about – and he is in the midst of developing a collection of as-yet-unseen furniture designs. However, the chapel is decidedly not a place for painting. For that, Rouy travels to a dedicated studio, a contemporary, warehouse-like space with a postcode identical to that of his home, bar one letter.
Whilst recognisably human in form, Rouy’s subjects have, over the years, become more Frankenstein-like, composed from parts, like a game of Consequences. Starting with a group of disparate elements – fragments from art history, visual culture and the internet’s algorithms Rouy explores ideas and arrangements through digital means, creating collages in Photoshop that act “as a catalyst” for the paintings.
After those first pieces are committed to canvas, Rouy then expands upon them, reacting to the questions and problems that they pose, using that as source material for the next. Painted in a variety of styles and scales, Rouy’s figures have a mis-matched quality. The lower half might recall the Renaissance in its pose and positioning, whilst the head could be rendered more simply, more blurrily – more direct or primal.
