Short CV

Email: john.bourne1@virgin.net

Born in 1943. From 1963 to 1985, I studied and taught Physics and Mathematics and did almost no art. In 1986, I gave up Science teaching to paint full-time. For me, the history of art is more about the history of painting than the development of new media.

I joined the Stuckists in 2001 and am co-founder of the Wrexham Stuckists and author of the website www.stuckismwales.co.uk. In 2004, I helped hang the Stuckists Punk Victorian exhibition at the Walker Art gallery.

My pictures are inspired by imagination and memories of my experiences. Some are about my childhood in N Ireland and others are about the modern world. I think painting may be able to reveal something of a world lying beyond the familiar world of time and space.

I make many pencil sketches of ideas for paintings and it may take years before I feel able to turn a sketch into a painting. I don't like to use photographs, because they may include detail which is not relevant to the true subject of the picture. I am torn between realism and reducing things to more simple forms. I paint because there is nothing else that I want to do.

Longer CV

WEB

Email: john.bourne1@virgin.net
Work on websites:
www.stuckismwales.co.uk
www.welshpaintings.co.uk

BORN

1943 Stoke on Trent

RESEARCH AND TEACHING

University College of North Wales, Bangor (Physics Degree) 1966-9

Imperial College of Science and Technology and H. C. Oersted Institute, Copenhagen (research – Solid State Theory) 1969-72

Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy (Comprehensive School): teaching mathematics 1972-8

N. E. Wales Institute of Higher Education: physics lecturer 1978- 86

ART EDUCATION

Mainly self-taught. I attended evening classes in my teens and was a student at Denbighshire Technical College for one term. I have also attended life classes after 1986

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Mostyn Open (Llandudno) 1989, 90, 91, 92, 93

First Prize, Mostyn Open 1990 (selected by Lewis Biggs, then director of Liverpool Tate)

Broekman Gallery (Chester) 1993

North Wales Artists Association - various shows in Wrexham, Llangollen and Liverpool.

Wales Open (Aberystwyth) and N. Wales Open (Mold) - various years.

Seattle Stuckists International Exhibition on the Internet. Opened Feb 2002

First Stuckist International (Stuckism International Centre, Hoxton, London) July 2002

'Stuck up North' (Newcastle) 2002

'Stuck down South' (Melbourne) Oct 2002

Stuckist show at Wednesbury (Birmingham) March 2003

Kith and Kids (Hoxton, London) Oct 2003

Stuckist Classics (Stuckism International Centre, Hoxton, London) Oct 2003

Russell Gallery (Putney) April 2004

Russell Gallery (Putney) Summer Show 2004

Stuckists Punk Victorian (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) Sept 2004 – Feb 2005 (9 paintings)

Wrexham Stuckists (Oswestry Heritage Centre) March 2005

Three Wrexham Artists (Oswestry Heritage Centre) March 2006

Red Rag Gallery (April 06)

International Symposium of Stuckism Exhibition (John Moores University Gallery, Liverpool) October 2006

Interviewed by BBC Radio Shropshire about Stuckism (Nov 06)

Oswestry Heritage Centre (April 07)

A Gallery, Wimbledon (July 07)

Four Wrexham Artists, Oswestry Heritage Centre (April 08)

The Antidote to the Ghastly Turner Prize, View Two Gallery, Liverpool. Helped hang the exhibition. (Nov 08)

SOLO EXHIBITION

Solo Exhibition: Theatr Clwyd (Mold)1991

ORGANISING

Helped found the Wrexham art group which later became the North Wales Artists Association

Founded the Wrexham Stuckists (first Stuckist group in Wales) Nov 2001

Founded Stuckism Wales, March 2003

Helped curate and hang the Stuckists Punk Victorian (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) Sept 2004 – Feb 2005

INTERESTS

Other interests include mathematics, religion, philosophy, and chess, which I like for its orderly nature. I am interested in the past. I am fond of old clocks and woodburning stoves. I spent part of my childhood in a very rural environment in Norther Ireland, where life was not that different, in many respects to that in the nineteenth century.

STATEMENT

In my teens I was keen on Augustus John, Surrealism and especially Stanley Spencer. Later I became very interested in the work of Cezanne, and More recent interests have included Paul Klee, Lowry and the Old Masters, including the seventeenth century Dutch painter Godfried Schalcken. From 1963 to 1985 I studied and taught science and did almost no art. In the Summer of 1986 I gave up teaching to concentrate on painting full-time.

I joined the Stuckists in Nov 2001 because I felt that figurative painting such as my own was receiving less than its fair share of attention from the selectors. I like to feel part of something and to try to contribute something to it. For me the history of art is the history of painting, rather than the history of ever-changing art media.

I paint in my loft. My pictures are inspired by imagination and memories of my experiences. Some are about childhood memories of N. Ireland and others are about the modern world. Places matter to me. When I paint a figure I may be thinking of more than one person. I think that particular experiences can be made into something more general in a painting.

I make lists of possible subjects and then produce rough sketches of compositions. It may take months or years before I feel able to start a painting of a particular subject. I make very many changes while doing a painting, in an effort to get a composition which is both interesting and balanced.

I'm often torn between realism and reducing things to more simple forms. I don't like to use photographs, because they tend to include detail which is not relevant to the true subject of the picture.

I think some things are timeless and that painting is able to reveal something of a world which lies beyond the familiar world of time and space. I feel that my pictures are positive in their outlook,in spite of the problems and anxieties of life. I paint because there is nothing else that I want to do.