
Zac Vout, MA, PGCE, BSC
Current role: HE/FE Fine Art Lecturer
Past experience:
Caricature Artist
Graphic Design
Portrait artist
Current work statement:
Every painting is a time capsule: an insight into a moment of creation, a physical manifestation of the artist. Each stroke is impacted by their observations, their past, their present, history, personality, perception and vision. I believe that the most successful painters are people who not only execute their ambitions with a high degree of skill but who also convey their entire personality within the medium of paint. They leave an imprint of their labour on the canvas, their quasi-self (Graw, 2016). When appreciating these paintings as a collection, you are stepping into my world; as I direct you through my viewpoint, you’re standing on the threshold of my life.
Every day, we walk through spaces, from domestic thresholds to non-places, with little regard for their impact upon us. These thresholds may be interesting as architectural frameworks; they are perhaps essential for a house to function; they are both entry points and barriers between the inside and outside. I am drawn to the idea of looking at the spaces and architectural features that are used often but are not observed as closely as other spaces. By utilising physical thresholds, this series explores my domestic space. I direct you through casual scenes throughout the house, as I capture the random moments throughout a summer of painting, moving around the thresholds of the kitchen, living room, bedroom, home studio and hallways. The work draws inspiration from artists working in a similar style, such as Caroline Walker, George Shaw, Francis Campbell, Boileau Cadell and Simon Andrews.
Informed by serendipitous photographic references, the key spaces throughout are intended to be viewed as though through the eyes of both my partner and I. Focusing only on the elements that are key to recording the scene, many elements are left as a blue under-painting, which alludes to my pottery heritage and imparts a cinematic quality.
This body of work should be viewed in its entirety as there are multiple reoccurring elements throughout the set of paintings, as one line within a particular painting ‘progresses’ into another scene and into the next image. The colour bleeds and flows from one image to the other as it fills personal objects and renders the figure.
Bibliography
Graw, I. (2016). Painting Beyond Itself - The Medium in the Post-medium Condition. Berlin: Sternberg Press / Institut Für Kunstkritik.