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Christopher English
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Biography
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During my education I attended two boarding schools. I left school in 1968 and went to train as a drawing office tracer in Leeds. I then went to live in Harrogate in 1970. I started work at that same time for a company of chemical combustion engineers. I started writing poems and painting in oil colours in my spare time. To follow my interest in painting I went to art school in the evenings. I had a lot of encouragement from various poetry events, workshops, friends etc. I was made redundant from work in 1985 and decided that there was no future for me in drawing office work. I wanted to get a degree in fine art. I did a foundation course in art at Harrogate Art College. I then went on to do a Fine Art Painting degree at Loughborough University, where I graduated in 1994. Besides exhibiting my paintings at various exhibitions, I have self published a book of my poems and paintings, which I up date as I produce new work. The book title is: `A King Rose to build a Palace.' and is available from myself upon request via my web site.
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Statement
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I show the symbolic images in my paintings as a complement to the imagery evoked in my poems. Ideas for the symbolism in my art derive from my poetry. Content of artwork is allegorical, full of metaphor, connotation and ambiguity. I start a painting with a combination of several images from a poem. Discovery and suggestion from my imagination emerge during the painting process and are a supplement to the poetry. The result has the intrinsic value of both poem and painting. Indeed, I show where the ideas in the paintings came from, hence the publication of my poems and paintings together.
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Exhibitions
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I am a member of a group of local artists that exhibit in local galleries and the local community. Web site address: http://www.artspace-lboro.co.uk/index.html
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