Truth Is The Lie…
Canadian based artist Adam Lupton paints subjects that stand off the canvas by putting the subjects in stark contrast to pale, subtle backgrounds. Using oil, frequently in conjunction with collage, he creates images that explore the psychological and sociological struggles in modern society.
In 2013, Lupton exhibited for the first time at the Ayden Gallery, Vancouver.
In his own words
Can you please tell us about your background. Was there a specific time when you first realised that creating was something you absolutely had to do?
There wasn’t ever an “ah ha!” moment for myself. I was creating my entire life I suppose, never over the top but consistently. Through high school I painted, then I went to Emily Carr University, because that seemed like the best option – and it was the only school I applied to! I went into their Communication Design program and graduated from that, before turning back to painting a few years later. I’m immensely grateful for going through the design program, as it’s provided me with a tremendous set of tools that I wouldn’t have if I had done a regular BFA.
Butterfly Effect 1
What artists and influences have driven your work and why?
I’m really drawn to Impressionism. I love the looseness of the strokes and the colours. It’s romantic. As current painters go, Conor Harrington has had a massive influence on me. I remember researching him in my first year of University and I’ve followed him ever since. His ability to blend abstraction, realism, and graffiti has definitely influenced my visual vocabulary. Lou Ros, a French painter, is remarkable for his simplistic and meaningful brush strokes, and his ability to strip away from a traditional “painterly” quality and provide a new one. Again, it’s blurring those lines between what’s literal and what’s a painting. And Andrew Young, another Vancouver person, is just remarkable. I get jealous every time I see his work, but it motivates me more.
Hot Death on a Cool Evening
What elements of your work do you find the most challenging?
Everything, hah. The largest ones I struggle with are finding that chasm between realism and abstraction that feels comfortable and not forced; and not attaching myself too much to my work, in letting mistakes happen for the positive.
You use the ‘portrait’ as the focus of your work. What makes you choose certain people for your work – is it their face, backgrounds, achievements or relationship with yourself? What do you try to capture when creating a portrait?
People to me are very relatable. We as humans know, understand, read, and relate to faces. I choose them based more on who they are to me, and what they themselves bring to the painting. However, the paintings are in no way about them: the finished product is void of any notion of it being Bob or Joe or Ann or whoever it was.
25 Tips To Get Him To Notice You
Where do you hope to take your work in the next few years?
In the next few years I want to be doing this more than full time. I’m planning on being in a Masters program and really trying to push myself as a person and an artist to make this as great as I can.
Immortality is the only True Success
Contemporary Canadian based artist, Adam
Lupton currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
All images courtesy of Adam Lupton | www.alupton.com
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