Eddie Fordham's Page

Name

Eddie Fordham

Artistic Medium

Painting/ Photography

Birthplace

Southampton, UK

Influences

Richard Long, Kandinsky. Miles Davis. Paul Strand, Paul Klee, Barnet Newman, Richard Serra.Turner.

How it all began...

One of my earliest memories as a child was pouring over maps, imagining the contours of the landscape, the names of places I could only aspire to visit, following the lines of country borders, roads and pathways with my finger, my imagination forming images of what these places would be like and musing about these places for hours at a time.

At about the same age I was introduced to drawing, mainly by the direct technique of cross hatching with a ball point pen to form shades and outline. I can remember when my friends were playing, I drew, sometimes from my imagination and other times from my bedroom window.

About me in general...

1995. Completed Btec National Diploma General Art & Design. PCAD
1997, Completed BA(Hons) Fine Art at Exeter. Bridget McCrum award for the most outstanding student.

Exhibitions

2009- Torre Abbey Contemporary Open, Devon, Uk
2009- The Great Create Festival Of Arts, Devon, Uk
2007 - Cotehele House. Cornwall
2006 – Cube3 Gallery Plymouth
2003 – Viewpoint Gallery, Plymouth
1999 - Sommerville Gallery, Plymouth
1998 – Barnstaple Fine Art, Barnstaple
1996 – Saltram Gallery. Plymouth, Solo Show
1995 – Plymouth Arts Centre.

Statement
The catalyst for my work is the seemingly inconsequential and incongruous. Hemerdon Mine, a redundant Tungsten mine situated at the edge of Dartmoor National Park, has been the stimulus for a continuing body of work.

One of my earliest memories as a child was pouring over maps, imagining the contours of the landscape, the names of places I could only aspire to visit, following the lines of country borders, roads and pathways with my finger, my imagination forming images of what these places would be like and musing about these places for hours at a time.

At about the same age I was introduced to drawing, mainly by the direct technique of cross hatching with a ball point pen to form shades and outline. I can remember when my friends were playing, I drew, sometimes from my imagination and other times from my bedroom window.

The present body of work was stimulated by pathways. In particular rural pathways / by-ways that cut through the landscape, not necessarily the main by-ways but those minor tracks formed not only by footfall, but also by the animals and the local wildlife. There is a poetry in the way that a track cuts through the random structure of the grass, a lyrical resonance where the path converges with grass. Paths by their very nature are transitional and there is a discourse that is inevitable with the subject that resonates with ideas of yearning and choices.

The creative language I use contextualises my earlier interest in maps and the linear structure of crosshatching. The drawing process has developed and matured to use a direct,linear and tactile approach to painting. I rarely use paint brushes. I use pallet knives but mainly found materials such as used disc cutting blades, crosshatching to build up surface and texture. It is imperative to the body of work to have a connection with the sense of place to keep the integrity of painting, it became apparent that the tools of mining such used disc cutting blades and broken blinds lying scattered about the mine would be the tools for applying the paint.

if you could collaborate with/meet any artist, past or present, who would it be?

Jackson Pollock & Turner

Check out my website

http://www.eddiefordham.com