Aidan Myers
b. 1992 Stoke On Trent, UK
Aidan Myers is an artist based in Cardiff, Wales working between painting and drawing.
Notably Myers travelled to India for artist residencies in 2024 in Maharashtra and 2018 in Goa, which formed the basis to his recent landscape works. He was a recipient of the Artist Support Pledge ‘Surfaces Award’ in 2021, which led to exhibiting at ASP’s inaugural group show at Hastings Contemporary. In 2017 Myers won first prize at the Oriel Cric Open in Wales.
Myers studied Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art and Design graduating in 2014; subsequently he worked at the Art School’s ‘Inc Space’ for a 2-year studio placement.
He exhibits in regular group shows in the UK and has presented solo shows in Cardiff (2023, 2021, 2018 & 2016) and Stroud, UK (2016).
There are public and private collections of work in: UK, Germany, USA, India & Hong Kong.
Statement:
I’m interested in the evolution of nature through human interference and our purposeful adaptations of nature to suit human idealistic modern life. I paint from scenes or places where I’ve visited that leave me curious and make me think about the different intentions for growing certain plants for food or nurturing ornamentation plants in green spaces for pleasure.
My paintings often reference the banana plant motif inspired by their seemingly abstract aesthetic qualities, their ornamental appeal in western world, as a food source and being a nostalgic, symbolic subject to the times I’ve spent painting in India.
I’m interested in experimenting with painting that borders between abstraction and the depicted subject to evoke the remembered feelings of the experience of ‘being in nature’; the physical act of applying paint, expressive mark-making and layering feels somehow relatable to human interaction with nature.
Recent paintings from my series ‘Props’ look at human-crafted green space and gardens, thinking about nature being ‘controlled’ and ‘choreographed’ by humans. The plants and trees are theatrical in the way that they are purposefully placed in our carefully curated gardens and managed woodlands.
The ‘Encounters’ series began in 2018 during my first artist residency to India and was the realisation of my fascination with nature and landscape as a subject matter. I also developed my affinity to banana plants as a motif here, in a way re-inventing the ‘figurative’ element of my previous abstract/figure paintings.
