Ed Saye
“I make landscapes out of what I feel.” Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
I see the act of painting as a search for authenticity and that for an artist to put themselves into a work of art is an act of courage.
I am currently making a series of paintings of hippie golfers in psychedelic landscapes, using a process that combines oil painting with the latest digital image-making technology and AI. The result is a hybrid digital-physical image that acknowledges the existence of new technologies and celebrates the versatile materiality, slowness and timelessness of paint.
Aesthetically they look like a cross between a northern renaissance landscape and a retro videogame, with hippie-like characters swinging wonky golf-clubs that might equally by scythes, clubs or weapons.
The cartoonish, swashbuckling subjects represent ideas of heroic but flawed masculinity, while the artificial landscapes and dramatic skies seem apocalyptic or suggestive of environmental collapse.
The colour palette is intense, fully saturated, and often with elements in silhouette and backlit figures, which enhances the artificiality of the scene.
A key influence for this body of work are years of watching friends and family members gaming (I have no interest in playing myself) and I am fascinated by these imaginary worlds and their transcendent light, where people can role play and enjoy an escapist experience.
These paintings are a space for me to create my own ‘other’ worlds and a way to process and understand the world around me while experiencing the creative joy of painting.
Lives and works in London
2007-2009 Slade School of Fine Art, London, MFA Painting
2005-2007 Central Saint Martins, London, Foundation Diploma
1996-2000 Durham University, BA Hons Modern Languages
Exhibitions
2023 to the birds, curated by Dan Howard-Birt, Exeter Phoenix, UK
2023 A Generous Space 3, Huddersfield Art Gallery, UK
2023 Works on Paper 5, Blue Shop Gallery, London
2023 CAS Open_Open, Chapel Arts Studios, Andover
2021 your FOOT in my FACE, Kingsgate Project Space, London
2018 Beep Painting Prize 2018, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
2018 The SOLO Award, Chiara Williams Contemporary Art, The Cello Factory, London
2018 Beautiful Monsters, The Portico Library, Manchester
2018 Reconstructing Reality, 20:20 Iconic Art Vision at D10 Art Space, Geneva
2018 The Landscape of Time, Contemporary British Painting, St Marylebone Crypt, London
2017 Virtuality Mortality, XAP at Ugly Duck, London
2017 The Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize, Piano Nobile Gallery, London
2016 No Promised Land, The Foundry Gallery, London
2016 The Runaway Fingers, Pushkin House, London
2016 Daylight Saving, Geddes Gallery, London
2013 Isolation Room, curated by Daniel McGrath, Copenhagen
2013 This Glitch, curated by Lee marshall, Blythe Gallery, London
2013 Creekside Open selected by Paul Noble, A.P.T. Gallery, London
2013 The Big Egg Hunt for Action for Children, London and UK touring
2012 The Other Art Fair, Ambika P3, London
2010 Grammar See, Rod Barton Gallery, London
2009 Lead Slugs and Blank Spaces, Museum 52, London
Graduate Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London
Anger Management, Will Alsop Space, Battersea, London
2008 Interim Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London
Edge to Edge, Slade Research Centre, Woburn Square, London
Residencies
2008 Poznan Academy of Fine Arts, Skoki, Poland
Publications
2011 Studio Paintings, 2011, Self-published, UK
2010 Furniture Drawings, 2010, Self-published, UK
2009 Sheraton Sofa, 2009, Self-published, UK
Slade Painting 2008, Slade Publication, UK
2008 Look Book, 2008, Self-published, UK
Edge to Edge, 2008, Slade Publication, UK
Rhubarb, 2008, Slade Publication, UK
Paint to Print, 2008, Slade Publication, UK
2007 20 Hoxton Square Newspaper, 2007, UK