Chris Sutcliff

Acrylic

8 x 5.5 inches (Each Panel)

2003

Acrylic, Ink, Biro

8 x 5.5 inches

2003

Acrylic, Print taken from a Leaf

8 x 5.5 inches

2003

Acrylic, Biro

8 x 5.5 inches

2003

My very good friend Emma Storton told me that Tabula Rasa is Latin for ‘Blank Tablet’ (slate), from which we derive ‘Blank Canvas’. I was impressed with this new knowledge so I wrote it on the then empty page. I went home inspired by my new phrase and put these two images on the blank pages, making them no longer blank, making it difficult to determine what I was thinking when I thought it would fit the title. I didn’t really grasp that one did I.

Acrylic, Ink, Graphite, Photography

8 x 5.5 inches (Each Panel)

2003

Contrary to popular opinion, the man on the left is not Ben Elton. The man on the right may be me only I don’t have a brick wall on my face.

Acrylic

8 x 5.5 inches

2003

No. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never even heard of Mark Rothko or Lucio Fontana, and the very idea that I would take the main elements of their very famous works and fuse them together like some sort of aesthetic mule just to call it my own is ludicrous and offensive. I nicked the style of the title from Antoni Tapies who has the extraordinary ability to title all his paintings with a literal verbal description of exactly what is going on in the painting. Genius.

Acrylic, Ink

8 x 5.5 inches

2002

A completely imagined scene based on the numerous barnacle encrusted struts that pierce the sea and reach for the sky around Portsmouth. The keen eyed among you will notice that my interpretation of perspective bears no relation whatsoever to all the known teachings of science, art or nature. Damn the keen eyed among you.

Acrylic, Inks, Wood Stain, Wood Adhesive, Varnish, Printed Text on Paper

8 x 5.5 inches

2001

Acrylic, Inks, Printed Paper

8 x 5.5 inches (Each Panel)

2001

My reaction to my first Sales job. Every day was a party.

Acrylic, Inks, Newsprint, Letraset Transfers

8 x 5.5 inches

2000

A running theme in many of my paintings is my insistence on picking titles in languages I am totally unfamiliar with and then getting my translations from dubious sources. Like celebrities and their celebrity tattoos. I seem to remember translating this one myself, letter by letter, using Greek typographic styles I found in an old dusty book. I showed it to a guy who was half Greek and he said I was nearly right. Like spelling POLITICIAN as T-O-S-S-E-R is nearly right.