Thomas Lamb Interview

Lincolnshire based artist Thomas Lamb discusses his influences from early Italian art to the glowing cherry trees of Japan…

Yes, I was always drawing from a young age, I don’t remember a precise moment when I decided I wanted to be an artist, I just wanted to carry on drawing and painting and thankfully I have been able to continue.

Both countries have very beautiful and varied terrain. I visited Norway during the winter so the landscape was covered in snow and seemed very wild and expansive, it also had low sunlight which made the snow appear as a source of light, the sparseness of the winter landscape encouraged me to concentrate on the use of space in the picture. In Japan the landscape is mountainous and has four very distinct seasons which left a strong impression on me. I have always been intrigued by the harmony of space between Japanese architecture and landscape and how they blur the boundaries between outside and interior space.

The opportunity to study first hand examples of Japanese painting and the early Italian paintings of Giotto, Piero della Francesca and Fra Angelico have been important for me within my work.

Yes, I found it a very good environment for drawing, it was one of the few art schools that still had a permanent life room so that was one of the reasons for applying to study there. I spent my first year in the life room and this was an important period for me to explore the possibilities for drawing and as such I believe gave me a strong foundation within my work in which to build upon.

I want people to experience my work in galleries or public spaces but I think it is important to explore different ways and combinations of displaying work and for me online has been a good way to communicate and reach a wide audience. It’s also opened up further opportunities to collaborate and enabled me another way to continue exhibiting my work.

When I started making the paintings one aspect was that I was fascinated by the light-up of cherry trees during Japan’s spring time and how the blossom’s seemed to have a great intensity at night, seemingly emanating their own light against the evening sky. In Japan they herald the beginning of spring and are celebrated throughout the country and possibly the vibrancy and beauty of the environment during this time impacted upon the work.

Certainly the former one as it’s through working that some of the best ideas or approaches emerge for me although I find that walking in the landscape is also a great source of discovering new ideas which can lead to unexpected possibilities.

Well, I have always found painting and drawing the most direct way for me to communicate my experiences of the world around me. Idiosyncratically the end result is hopefully something akin to painting or drawing a picture that I am unable to explain.

I want to paint and create a vision that furthers my experiences of the world.

That’s the end of our Thomas Lamb interview. Thanks again to Thomas for taking some time out from his work to answer our questions.

For more images and links head over to our Thomas Lamb page.