Brylcreem Boy, oil on board, 40cm x 60cm
Me, Myself and I (triptych), oil on board, 60cm x122cm each
Alan Harrold
Alan studied Fine Art Painting at the Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, graduating in 2000, and stayed on a further year to do an MA in Art and Design. He completed the AA2A (Artists Access to Art Colleges) residency at Herefordshire College of Art and Design in 2004, and is now life drawing tutor on the foundation course there. He held his first solo exhibition last autumn at the Carby Art Gallery in Aberdeen, and followed it with a second, at The Courtyard, Hereford in January.
Most of my work is based around the figure, or objects that relate to a figure but that are absent from the canvas. Although I never actually tell viewers that something is missing from the scene I am presenting to them, I think the sparseness of the composition leads them to think of a loss of something or someone.
My figures are painted in oils and are shown against a very limited backdrop, usually just a flat colour painted in gloss or enamel. I feel this allows the viewer the chance to use their imagination about the situation that the figure is in. By removing any personal objects from the composition, each viewer is forced into developing his or her own version of the figure's personality.
Alan Harrold 2005