David Rycroft

David Rycroft is an English painter, living in Hérault, France.

 

David was born in the south of England, later moving to Cambridge. He comes from an academic family where education is held in high-esteem. At 13 he was sent to the prestigious Eton College, where the emphasis on excellence is stressed in every aspect of the school curriculum.

 

Looking back he recognises how much the teachers there valued their pupils. “What young people need, he says, is encouragement”.

As a music scholar he found himself in the limelight early on, his discovery of art however appealed to him, although at the time he reflects it was more of a private thing. Direction in life is not something however that always strikes you like a thunder bolt, sometimes it is a gradual process, that starts in the depths of your consciousness, then grows slowly until, then before you know it, it is the only way for you to go.

At Edinburgh University he studied art history, making the most of the art galleries there, visiting exhibitions and attending openings.  David cites Elizabeth Cowling the author, curator and one of his lecturer’s at the time, as a great influence. “ I still feel very connected to that time.”

He recalls his early influences. “I became obsessed with the work of Lucien Freud and focussed my art practise on trying to emulate his portraits. I also admired the work of Howard Hogkin, his colour use, the personal meaning imbued in his painting, also the subtlety, the layers…I copied his work too whilst at uni.  Another influence for me is Ben Nicolson. I admire his aesthetic formulism, the purity of nature, which is still coming through my own work, although it’s a bit too refined. My work has suffered from being like that as well.”

 

Describing the philosophy which underpins aspects of his practise David believes that the holding of a paintbrush and the ability to paint is a human activity, primal even. “You can look at any artist from any time and see quality. I am thinking of Vatout, I love 18th century French art, expression with fluidity.  You can also see it within Chinese art for example. It has to have that calligraphic element and can’t be replaced by computer intervention. It has a heart you can’t predict. The key is to let that come out. Any concept has to be left on one side.”

At university David had already met his future wife. When she graduated she was offered a job in the UN environment programme.” It was a great time, as I went to live with her in Geneva where I started to create these large format townscapes. I would pick a location then begin painting from about 8am. My aim was to sum up a whole town in one panoramic image, its people and culture. I continued with the townscapes both Paris and London too, and had some success selling them.  However, that lifestyle was nomadic. My wife and I travelled East in ’95 until we decided to settle down.”

 

When they finally found a home in London David had decided that he wanted to contribute to society in a more conventional way, so he decided to teach, consequently his art was put on hold for a period whilst he taught at an inner city girls comprehensive school.

Towards the end of his teaching career David began to explore his painting in more depth, adapting his classroom for working in the evening. Matisse  was quite a big influence at that time. David was involved with the question of how to create pure colour without thinking about it. After some time the idea of sweeping card across liquid paint came to him, which he later coined as ‘Sweeps’. “I remember thinking at the time that it felt like quite an important artistic innovation. After creating the conditions you let the media do the work. I had a small show, where a critic Martin Hammer said that he liked the work, but suggested they needed to be bigger.”

 

David and his wife had always planned to move to France, particularly for their two children – David’s wife is French.

 

In terms of area, they had originally visited the Buddhist centre, founded in 1991 by Sogyal Rinpoche and located 15 kms from Lozère, on the remote Larzac plateau. Lerab Ling is Rigpa’s main retreat centre and has become a living centre for the transmission of the authentic tradition of Buddhist teachings in Europe.  “We were,” he says,” completely blown away by the place and inspired. After several trips to Lerab Ling we bought our current property, which fitted in with our long term vision. When we moved here, I got the studio sorted out, it’s modest but it works.”

In Dec 2010, through a small exhibition he held in Paris, David was approached by UNESCO to put on an exhibition as part of their ‘Man and Biosphere’ programme, a celebration of 40 years working within the environment. “They chose my work I believe as it expresses man’s relationship with nature. I think my work is also about how we as artists relate with nature, and our being part of a natural process.”

 

 One of the key themes of the programme is that humanity is not separate from our environment; rather we are part of it. For David, the indivisibility of naturalness and purity, not only within the natural world, but also within us, forms an integral part of his artistic vision. “The work is natural, pure and contains elements that I as an artist want to bring to art. I think that I am trying to communicate something.”

 

There is thoughtful discipline in David’s approach to his work. He practises daily, not always on the sweep techniques which although have become an integral part of his work, do not in any way constitute the whole. Drawing from his Buddhist practise, he believes it’s important to be in a certain state of mind each day when he starts work. “I basically believe whatever comes out is a result of one’s intention.  It’s like a meditative thing, only when the mind is clear can you work.”

 

He uses photography and the innovations available in digital imaging that allow him to try things out and draw out elements from images he has taken, predominately of the natural world around him. He is also preoccupied with the desire to increase the vibrancy in his work, to make it more captivating, conscious of the need to draw people in. Originally he experimented with three colours; recently he has increased it to ten. The technique used in the sweeps is accidental in a way, but it looks very precise, almost photographic.” I think,” he says,” I have almost found a balance – like zen calligraphy. “

 

When asked what genre he would label himself as, he is rightly hesitant. “Form, colour… transcendent… the idea of leading you towards something. I admire the Romantics for that, the dissolution of form, the luminosity and space. I have always felt close to the colour of Dufy. He brings together different things. And Turner –again the colour, light and man’s relationship to nature.

 

For me it is a manifestation of the absolute. My art is about the human touch, the humanness of it.”