David Kereszteny-Lewis Cheshire, United Kingdom
a practicing painter with a love of printmaking.
My creative process has always been based around the experience of the subject, and in my case its very much about a place. Not just its physicality but its history and its people and the marks they make upon that landscape. My degree show work (a long time ago) explored the north Cornish landscape but was driven by the socio economic history of absentee mine owners, Mining disasters and the physical effect of mining on the landscape. It’s important to say that my Dad was a miner therefore the situation certainly resonated with me. I’ve constantly revisited the Cornish landscape, inspired by Peter Lanyons approach to the English landscape tradition. To explore a landscape visually it is vital that I fully experience it from early morning drawing sessions in the landscape in all weather conditions from dense fog through to glorious sunshine, all of which contributing to a greater understanding. The actual process of making always starts with drawing and nearly always in black and white where I can establish a range of shapes that I see in the landscapes, I look for patterns and rhythms normally created by fences, paths and roads. The biggest clash comes at the next stage, having trained a Printmaker my natural bent is towards a very graphical approach but as a painter I need a more expressive use of paint. Therefore in any collection of mine you will see both aspects. Studio practice always means working on several pieces at one, often up to 10 pieces where I shift back and forward between pieces, I often refer to the collection as a family that talk to each other ( and to me) As with most Artists I am happy to make mistakes, to get things wrong and to repurpose pieces that don’t meet expectations using collage to develop marks and surfaces. Nothing is ever finished, every piece I make can be developed and altered, and I am happy with that.
