Art & Culture
Brian Pike

Brian Pike is a professional artist who lives and works in Richmond, Swaledale North Yorkshire. On leaving school he decided to study Philosophy rather than take the traditional art school route into the artworld. He subsequently specialised in Philosophy of the Arts, a subject which, until recently, he taught for the Open University to students in the UK and Continental Western Europe.
In recent years he has exhibited widely in the North of England, and his work is in private collections throughout the UK and in Holland, France and Germany. As well as working in 2D and 3D media he is also involved in electronic artwork and installation projects.

Brian paints in a style which is both modern and accessible. He uses unique mixed-media techniques of his own invention to create striking effects of colour and texture reminiscent
of the patina of weathered metals or the rich, deep glazes of studio ceramics. The effect cannot really be appreciated from these images which by comparison are rather flat. Brian's work has the quality of changing colour and even texture when viewed from different angles and in different light.

His work is heavily influenced by landscape, especially the hill landscape of the Pennines, and often focuses on the tiny isolated settlements of the high moorland edges.
But he seldom treats his subjects literally, and his themed shows usually include pieces ranging from the wholly abstract to the almost representational.
Artists it is sometimes said see the world through different eyes. Brian sees himself thus. Do we all look like this to him or is it just himself :-)

Click the image to see him through my eyes (more or less).
There are a few more of Brian's works below:
The following two are described by are from Brian's "work-in-progress" collection (January 1999).
"Mouse contemplates poisonous berry" is a particular favourite of mine.

You should visit Brian's site for a more detailed explanation.
The image below is particularly relevant to "Castle View" (this web site) as it is based (loosely) on a house in Hurgill Road, Richmond where in fact Brian used to live.
To those who know the area but do not at first recognise the location Brian offers the following explanation:

"This is in fact a picture of 2 Hurgill Road, Richmond, North Yorkshire, where I lived from 1989 to 1997. No, there wasn't a tree in the garden (in fact the garden didn't even belong to the house). And no, it it wasn't in the middle of nowhere. The tree is a symbolic tree, and the nowhere is a symbolic nowhere."

The explanation is perhaps almost as attractive as the picture.

You can find out more about Brian Pike by following this link.

(Credits: images courtesy of Brian Pike)

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