Perspective, Play and Provoking Reaction: Will Teather
Written by Oliver Squirrell
History has an unfortunate knack of being forgotten. Whether it’s man’s desire to go to war despite the unbearable losses of previous campaigns, lads back on the lash after last week’s ‘I’ll never drink again’ or the lost joys of simply being present in front of a wondrous painting or live band without the incessant itch to take a selfie; the tragedies, triumphs and philosophies of the past often lay in waste at the merciless hand of new technology and ‘progress’.
Enter Will Teather’s bold artistic practice, which does much more than keep history alive, he builds upon the figures, ideas, works and painting techniques of the past with a fresh sense of play to produce mesmeric images, spheres and hemisphere that help us better understand where we are in the here and now.
Imaginative and highly technical experimentation with perspective often lies at the heart of Teather’s ability to captivate a crowd, which was certainly the case for myself when first encountering his Fractal paintings and spheres at 2019’s Art Fair East. But as we’re about to find out, there’s much more than immediately meets the eye.
Will Teather, “Christ at the column (after Caravaggio)”, Oil on canvas, 100 x 76cm
OS: One of the first things that really struck me about your work were the powerful innovations around perspective, most nobly present in your Fractal paintings and the Infinite Perspectives spheres. Where did this desire to experiment with perspective come from and what were some of the lengths you had to go to achieve such striking results?
Will Teather, “A Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase (after Osias Beert, the Elder)”, Oil on canvas, 49.7 x 64.5cm
WT: Thanks! The Fractal paintings are focused upon the idea of realist images possessing an underlying geometry and key energy points, particularly in the context of art history. The idea was to fracture an image around these energy points, inspired in part by some abstract artworks that I had seen were using overlapping geometric patterns. One of those energy points is often the perspective within an image, which can draw the eye to certain parts of a composition such as a main protagonist, for example. I see perspective as part of the nuts and bolts of creating 2 dimensional illusions and rather than taking it for granted, it is something that can be manipulated and explored. The way artists structure and depict spacial relationships has always been remarkably varied and fluid, which interests me, particularly as someone who has lectured in observational drawing. For these paintings I start by deconstructing a pre-existing image into it's key energy points. Once I am happy that this has been achieved, I repaint the image using the patterns that emerged as a guide for abstracting it.
Will Teather, “Guntons”, Acrylic on sphere
The globes are more fundamentally about perspective. The idea with these is again to look at reworking the underlying formal structures behind realist painting. One of those is perspective, another is composition and there is also the canvas to consider. The globes provide an alternative solution to all of these elements, being a 360 continuous perspective that is ever changing as your eye travels across the composition. The composition is also ever changing as you cannot see more than a particular section at one time. And the canvas has become a sculptural object in the form of a sphere. This interest in perspective comes from thinking about the differences between the journey of our eyes around reality compared to the fixed viewpoint of a camera. In my earlier works I had started playing with fish eye perspectives to create uncanny effects within paintings and the globes were a natural progression from this.
OS: Historical imagery and painting techniques also feature prominently in your work, how important is it for us as a society to immerse ourselves in history in order to bring new light and understanding to contemporary sensibilities in the here and now?
Will Teather, “Elizbeth 1 (after British School)”, Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 50.7cm
WT: I think the question almost answers itself - very important. There has been a conversation going on since the first cave paintings that has brought us to now and I think artists are obliged to continue that journey. Nothing exists in a vacuum and the evolution of ideas and technique can be very exciting.
Will Teather, “Corination Of The Virgin (after Velazquez)”, Oil on canvas, 103 x 137cm
I have always been keen to keep the lessons from the past within my work. However, I see more value in innovations that build upon what is already cherished about an artform, rather than innovation for its own sake. The globes were all about creating some thing radical which still possessed all the qualities of paintings that I love from the past, in terms of brushwork and classical glazing techniques. Even within the fractal paintings, which inevitably involve a degree of automation in their conception as geometric forms, I use a series of classical glazing techniques to help add depth to the final images.
Will Teather, “The Supper at Emmaus (after Caravaggio)”, Oil on canvas, 107cm x 76cm
OS: I love that as part of your manifesto you say 'Art should be clever. Art should not be academic.' How do you differentiate between cleverness and academia and why is it important to make this distinction?
WT: There are many forms of intelligence within art that extend beyond words. Those aspects that cannot be written about or categorised into a particular cannon, can often be devalued by academics who feed upon those discussions. If there isn't any thing much to say about something, it doesn't mean it isn't a work of genius.
I've always enjoyed visual games within artworks, plays upon form, repetition and pattern that are very hard to write about. But they are easy to enjoy. Making something very simple that provokes a strong reaction from people can very clever indeed, and is not easy to do. My ideas come out of play a lot of the time, and only then do I start considering the context for what I'm creating.
Will Teather, “Flowers in a Serpentine Vase (after Osaias Beert the Elder)”, Oil on canvas, 30.8 x 49.7cm
OS: Looking at the bigger picture, do you think the pandemic could have a longer term impact on how people experience art and the nature of the art that's created?
WT: No, probably not in terms of the artwork produced. Artists are driven by technology and wider human experiences than just the pandemic. It has personally given me the head space to finish some more ambitious pieces though, whilst the world is closed down.
It is clearly affecting the art world though. Online sales have exploded and I think the public trust in online market places for higher-end items like artwork is increasing. In the short term art fairs are going to have to work out how to adapt to the current circumstances, which provides some unique challenges for what are meant to be busy events.
OS: How has the pandemic affected your practice specifically, what new works have you been creating and what do you have coming up?
WT: I have had many shows put on hold and so have been using media like video blogs to disseminate the works instead. In particular the head space and lack of pressing deadlines has meant I can develop some larger pieces. I began a painting last summer that would have taken years to complete, between other projects. That is now completed due to the lockdown and I am working on a series of sister pieces. It is intended to bring together many of the styles and processes from previous works to uncanny effect.
Will Teather, “The Uncanny Valley”, Oil on panel, 180 x 212cm
I also completed a series of fractal paintings that deconstruct artworks from Stranger's Hall Museum, that will be displayed next to their dopplegangers at the museum once it reopens.
OS: Where can people find and engage with you both online and in the real world?
WT: I have a website willteather.com and am on Instagram (@willteather), Twitter (@will_teather) and Facebook (facebook.com/willteatherart). People can also visit my studio in Norwich by appointment.
I am represented by galleries in London, New York and across the East of England. At the time of writing I have psychedelic tudors on display in the Fitzrovia Gallery London as part of Secret Art's latest show, a panoramic painting on a storm trooper helmet in Ad Lib Gallery London, a mix of works on display at RJD Gallery, Hamptons New York, Riverside Art and Glass in Norfolk, the Royal Arcade in Norwich and Buckingham Galleries, Southwold.