Young
Guns
The Art of Antony Bridge
At the age
of 22, not many artists can boast three solo exhibitions within a single
year, or having their work on display at the Silverstone Gallery alongside
some of the leading automotive artists of the World. Antony Bridge however,
can add these feats to his resume. He is an art student in his final year,
and a promising young illustrator with considerable talent.
Growing up
in central England in a little town called Malvern, Antony was surrounded
by some of the most inspiring landscapes around Great Britain. Drawing
has always been a part of his life and walking around the house, he would
constantly gather things to set up still lives. As he grew older, his
interest in art strengthened to a point where it became clear that he
would also pursue a career in this field.
Initially
his intentions were to follow in his father's footsteps and take up work
as an architect. Every summer he would work at his father's practice as
a draughtsman, which helped him become very technical and accurate in
his work ethic. At the age of 17 he then began studying physics, math,
mechanics, art and graphical communication for his A-Level exams. However,
his desire to pursue a more artistic road grew stronger and as he became
more skilled with contemporary techniques, Antony decided it was time
for a change of course.
Around the
same time, he also came into contact with what should later turn out to
be his greatest passion of all - the airbrush. During his A-levels he
entered a competition to design the Malvern Hills Citizens Advice Bureau
logo. Having produced the winning piece, he had an opportunity to see
the graphic designers at work who were preparing the logo for print. The
head of the design agency, Martin Hicks, introduced Antony to airbrushing
and helped him with the basics of how to use a spray gun. "I have
been hooked ever since", he says. "The airbrush seems to be
an addictive tool for a lot of artists. The smooth feeling when you spray
onto the surface is extremely satisfying, and you can almost see reality
forming in front of you. For me, it's almost like meditating. I seem to
go into a deep trance and can't part myself from the painting until it
is finished. Only my body lets me down when it gets tired, but my mind
still wants to carry on painting."
With his
new aim in mind, Antony decided to attend the Hereford College of Art
and Design for a year and he found it very inspiring to see other artists
at work: "I was very focused at that time on exclusively producing
airbrush paintings and didn't listen to the advice of the tutors that
tried to get me to broaden my repertory of techniques". The artist
also points out though, that eventually he realized that by strictly adhering
to just one technique, he would never be able to achieve the artistic
freedom that he had always been aspiring to. So he decided to go to university
to further broaden his horizon, seeking to combine the technical accuracy
he had already acquired while working in his father's practice, with more
expressive painterly styles. At the time it seemed that technical illustration
would enable him to do just that, so he focused his research on finding
an appropriate course: "I contacted a Technical Graphics course at
the Swansea Institute of Higher Education, in Wales. There I was introduced
to Andy Penaluna, who I found out to be an amazing airbrush artist with
exactly the kind of talent I was admiring at the time. However, the Technical
Graphics course he was teaching back then had been discontinued so I accepted
a place on a three year degree course in General Illustration instead."
Antony wanted to use the time of being in education to experiment, and
also to find out were his true passions and strengths lie with regards
to art, something which he says he will probably not be able to do as
easily in a working environment. Encouraged by tutors like Andy, he has
thus managed to develop and mature a broad range of individual styles
over the past two or three years. As a result, today he does not have
just one characteristic way of working. Instead, he likes to produce anything
that looks good in any style and accordingly alternates his painting processes
to give himself a fresh approach each time. He still gains the most pleasure
from using the airbrush though, although he now mostly uses it along with
other techniques, combining everything he has learned at once. Antony
points out that the airbrush has huge advantages when it comes to simulating
smooth textures and achieving realistic tonal ranges, but also he finds
it a lot harder to express himself with it, like one can do with conventional
painting. This should not be seen as a limitation though, but rather the
opposite, as such that it illustrates his ability to put the tool into
the right context and introduce various other techniques whenever needed,
to achieve the goal of what it is he wants the artwork to express.
His ideal
would be to be able to produce any type of illustration or painting, and
to become an expert in as many fields and subjects as possible. Certainly
an ambitious aim, but his resolve and willingness to work hard are without
any doubt evident from the great variety of stylistically different paintings
he has already produced. Antony derives a lot of his inspiration from
the masters of the past, but also from works of various contemporary artists.
This as well might explain his love for different painting styles. Already
from the age of about eight, he started collecting Salvador Dalí
postcards and for a while he was almost obsessed as he says, with the
surrealists. He particularly admired Dalí's mastery of technique
and his eccentric and powerful way of expressing himself. Later he began
to be attracted to Fantasy Art from people like Chris Achilleos and Boris
Vallejo, and was also greatly influenced by artists such as Damien Loeb
or Chuck Close, who has produced some of the most outstanding photorealistic
works of his time. A recent addition to his ever expanding list is Jack
Vettriano, whose paintings trigger a great sense of mystery and thought
in him.
However, his main source of inspiration is still derived from his passions,
as Antony likes to call them: "I am most passionate about things
of subtle beauty like interesting and inspiring people, beautiful places
in nature, in fact anything that is somehow visually stimulating. The
shine on a well designed car that contains bold and strong colors, beautiful
figures with eyes that radiate life and energy, the way certain people
move, all these aspects make me want to paint. A certain pose on a chair
or a perfect composition excites me to the point were it must be forever
captured on paper."
Antony not
only embraces all kinds of traditional media, but also actively incorporates
the computer in his work. Although personally he still prefers a hand
made painting to a computer generated image, he is well aware of the necessity
for professional artists to be able to use digital media as well. Nearly
all creative job advertisements today ask for computer skills. Antony
points out though that unfortunately, these skills are often not being
taught sufficiently well to illustration students in art colleges. He
uses it mainly to construct paintings, and he finds this approach easier
to make changes, experiment with colors or distort reference pictures
to get the perfect composition.
Such a determination
but also an openness towards all media will surely be very helpful for
carving a successful career in illustration. Antony has already experienced
this himself while working on live projects. He has undertaken several
commissions for painting cars and portraits in the past, and also he has
produced other artwork for various companies during his studies. Seeing
as he will be graduating from university in July of this year, he is presently
building up contacts, and sending out work to different agencies to get
some commissions he could do after leaving art college. Ideally, he would
like to work in a studio with other illustrators and artists, people who
share the same passion towards art as he does. Whichever road his artistic
career will bring him though, take our word for it that it will be a successful
one..
Antony
Bridge can be reached at:
125 Wells
road,
Malvern Wells, Worcs.
Great Britains
Anthony
J Bridge
BA (hons) General Illustration (2002)
For
sales, commissions and to send comments to the artist.
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