John Gamblin Glamorgan, United Kingdom
I create paintings that merge memory and mythology, moving between still life, figuration, and abstraction. Through a restrained palette and handmade materials, I explore how personal history and cultural stories shape perception.
My work explores the threshold between memory and mythology, where personal experience intersects with universal storytelling. I paint primarily in acrylic and oil, moving fluidly between still life, figuration, and abstraction. Each image becomes a dialogue between structure and imagination, grounded in lived experience yet open to symbolic interpretation. The making process is central to my practice. I prepare my own paints and often work on wood panels layered with rabbit skin size, muslin, and handmade traditional gesso. This respect for craft and material history anchors my work in tradition while allowing space for experimentation. A long career in systems development continues to shape my artistic vision. The logic, rhythm, and structural clarity of programming inform my compositions, guiding how I construct and balance form. I often work with a limited palette—burnt umber, yellow ochre, cadmium red, ultramarine, and titanium white—finding richness in restraint. Through this interplay of material, memory, and myth, I aim to create works that resonate beyond the surface, inviting reflection on the unseen structures, experience, cultural, and symbolic—that shape how we perceive the world. I am a proud Newlyn School of Art Alumni and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art. My practice is based in Cardiff.
