Spotlight On: Chris Angell and Michael Smith - Barrington Farm

Chris Angell

“I use my eyes as art.”

From alien flowers to Native Americans, from fantasy landscapes to Elvis, Chris Angell’s interests and subject matters are incredibly wide ranging. Never afraid to experiment, Chris is confident in a variety of techniques and tailors the method to the ideas rather than the other way around.

Over the past few years Chris has focused on creating pastel drawings that display depth and considered use of colour. His current work examines portraiture, sometimes from life or printed material, sometimes from his own imagination, or a combination of both. The resulting works are atmospheric drawings of faces or two faces very close together, often with an object or mark partially covering the faces and dividing the page. Occasionally he uses pastels in conjunction with other materials such as ink, which embellishes the image with outlining and added texture.

Chris has his own unique vision of the world, and continues to fuel his own expressive language seen in glimpses through his work.

“Each time I draw a picture or do a sculpture I think of life.” 

Michael Smith

Michael is an energetic and prolific self taught artist. His current passion is for materials and using whatever is at hand. He is the master of creating something from nothing, and anything in the Barrington Farm Art Barn studio is at risk of transformation. Large old canvases are painted over with bold colours, waste bins are wrapped in cardboard and turned in to sculptures, fruit boxes are perforated with nails and staples, donated jeans are cut and sewn or taped back together. He has a natural creative talent and eye for composition that can be applied to most disciplines within the visual arts.

Michael’s subject matter in painting particularly often illustrates his experiences and surroundings of living on a farm in the North Norfolk countryside.

Michael is also very interested in clothing, and in particular that of cowboys. His recent series of reconstructed denim jeans originally began to addresses his desire to create clothing that he could wear. After making a pair for himself, his process continued using a pile of donated denim jeans. Through the cutting up the leg seams and re-stitching with wool and taping up with masking tape, Michael has developed a collection of patchwork and tightly wrapped trouser like sculptures that are impossible to wear but convey the emotion of his enjoyment of the creative process.

Both artists are members of the Barrington Farm art studio in North Norfolk.

Please contact Sarah Ballard at roar_art@hotmail.com for any enquiries.