Urban Neurosis
Oil on Linen

British artist Tristan Pigott paints beautiful and sensual images that pick up characteristics. Pigott’s paintings allow us to get to know slithers of his figures’ personalities.

The backgrounds to his paintings show larger freer strokes, in limited and subtle colours, that emphasis the position and enhanced proportions of his figures.

In his own words

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us what drives you to create? Have you ever felt like you had a choice?
I studied painting at Camberwell College of Art, graduating in 2012, and I now live and work in London. My dad is a painter so I have been going to galleries for as long as I can remember. Once an art teacher let me use some oil paints I knew I had found my preferred medium. It didn’t take much longer to find my interest in painting people. I would say there was never a choice!

Easy Reading
60 x 40 Inch
Oil on Linen

What artists have influenced you, and how?
I admire contemporary artists like Stuart Pearson-Wright and John Currin for their often slightly dark and humorous perspectives of human nature. At galleries I’m always looking at the technique of the artists and trying to work out how they put the paintings together.

Could you describe for us your typical ‘start to finish’ workflow when working on a new painting?
Once I’ve finished developing an idea in a sketchpad, generally I’ll know exactly how and what I’ll be painting. Depending on the size, it can take a few days to a couple of months. However, it’s only towards the latter end of the process when I really start to focus on the balance of the painting. Seeing whether something needs to be taken out or put in, or a colour changed, etc. Hopefully as I’ll be thinking about colour and balance throughout the process not much will need changing!

Showing the Ink
25 x 25cm
Oil on Linen

How do your paintings relate to each other? Do you feel that they are ‘stories’ or narratives or do they tend to be individual pieces?
As I always paint people, there’s a general underlying theme of performance and how people act. Having a narrative in painting is very important to me, so in some cases these narratives can take the theme on tangents, but generally these will be about different ways of seeing (how we can judge people). There’s also a looser relation in my paintings of my own self-projection in the people I paint (not on purpose but something I tend to notice after the work is finished).

Bubblegum

What’s coming up in the next year for you?
My first solo show is finishing 16th January so I’ve already started the next batch of new work and will hopefully doing some group shows in the coming months!

Cat
Oil on canvas
30x20inch (76.2×50.8cm)

Tristan Pigott graduated in 2012 from Camberwell. He  currently lives and works in London, UK.

All images courtesy of Tristan Pigott | www.tristanpigott.com

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