Graham Illingwoth

It’s hard to appreciate something we can’t see. Something, or rather someone, who fails to make a visible appearance. Yet it’s the unseen which creates most of the buzz, generally in life. Before we’re accused of getting too philosophical, we’re referring to contemporary figurative artist extraordinaire, Graham Illingworth, who has rapidly become something of a paradox according to those in the know, who suggest that he’s gone a bit Lord Lucan. Or simply, just gone. Whilst Illingworth’s stupendously exquisite figurative art continues to grow in its already broad appeal, incorporating an even greater audience than ever before, it emerges that very few are actually aware or subsequently acknowledge what serves to motivate or inspire the man behind the canvas. And we’re talking celebrated contemporary graffiti artist, Banksy levels of anonymity here; someone who chooses to shun the creative limelight at every given opportunity, which only accelerates the myth and legend if you like.

All this ducking and diving from the public eye naturally – and somewhat perversely - causes more attention and headline making within an industry than if the person was up front and accountable for their sublimely creative actions. And flies in the face of current trends for the active encouragement of media exposure as is society’s norm in these celebrity Z-list days. Of course, Illingworth is certainly no Z-lister, and conversely pretty far up the alphabet in terms of his standing in the contemporary figurative artist community/rankings. Yet Illingworth chooses to remain virtually reclusive all the same, insisting that his work should do all the talking and that the body of which expresses him in the absence of his physical presence. We’re not going to get bogged down with all the whys and wherefore art thous, and instead focus on the Illingworth’s work.

An artistic empathy with foreign cultures – which is later described through his signature work – was hardly written in the stars in a childhood that was divided between the (with respect) un-far flung mining communities of his native Brighouse in Yorkshire (where he came into this world in 1953), the lush green estuaries of Kent on the South East coast of the UK and the architectural magnificence (and yes, culturally sound) ancient city of York. Yet something about this mix which provoked Illingworth to explore all four corners of his creative vortex during his formative years and from the outset of his dabbling in the (light) and dark arts. The result is a collection of paintings that illustrate a remarkable sensitivity and a unique empathy with foreign cultures.

Developing and evolving his prodigious artistic talent though his childhood, Illingworth unsurprisingly opted to undertake a further three years of formal art training on completion of his secondary education, whilst an additional eight years employed in the world of publishing ensured that Illingworth was equipped with all the necessary skills required to make a go of it on his own when the time was prudent to do so. What the artist also honed during this period of his early career was his extraordinary skills in relation to where his specific artistic interest lay. That being the mystical and more pertinently the relationships and conflict between opposing forces.

It was the warring dynamics and mindset of hostile and mostly ancient cultures which fired his creative imagination, and therein the typically magical imagery which had been visually documented as to represent this passing. Evocative themes of African, Japanese and Chinese art were the main inspirations for Illingworth, and he soon engendered a highly individual and defining style. This style that Illingworth had mastered was graphically complex and intricate in its construct, despite the underlying fact that it was illustratively realised in seemingly orthodox materials and mediums, ranging from pen and ink to watercolour, yet the attention to meticulous detailing was nothing short of fastidious.

From these original pieces were born lithographically-manifested limited edition reproductions and hand-pulled silkscreen prints, of which colours and intensity of composition are never compromised, and remain as popular to the buyer and collector as the originals themselves and equally as prized on the open market. Pretty much to the extent that Illingworth’s limited editions are sold out before the duplicating process is barely complete, whilst new editions are habitually oversubscribed. Not just prior to publication, but often before the original is even signed off by the hugely popular artist.