Artist Statement

Tim Southall was born in Staffordshire in 1961 and grew up on the edge of heavy industrial heartlands of the Black Country. He studied Fine Art at Northumbria University and then printmaking Royal College of Art and l’école des beaux art, Paris. Based in London for twenty years, in 2001 Tim moved to the beautiful countryside of the Costa de la Luz – the coast of light – in Cadiz Province, southern Spain.

Situated just three miles from the Atlantic coast and the beach of Trafalgar made famous by the battle of 1805, is Tim’s studio. This unspoilt corner of Spain provides much of the inspiration and starting points for his work. This connection to nature runs through both his paintings and prints.

The base upon which he builds his work is metaphysics: existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. Using these guides, he expresses how he sees and experiences the world. This he does mostly through the landscape or the figure in the landscape.

Over and above the metaphysical, he strives to make work which is delicate and shows a lightness of touch along with an eye for detail and nuance. At the same time he uses the language of drawing and mark-making in an attempt to describe emotional depth and atmosphere. He also delights in using visual devices or narratives to convey some of the great classical themes and hopefully create something new and fresh with a modern voice. The resulting works are rarely direct representations or specific places but distillations of various places and experiences and pose the two basic questions of metaphysics: What is ultimately there? and, What is it like?

Tim is an active member of the Printmakers Council and exhibits regularly with them. He is also a member of Birmingham Printmakers where he produces his silkscreen prints, but the bulk of his work is produced at his studio in Spain.

Education

1985 Royal College of Art, M.A. (Henry Moore Bursary)
1983 École de Beaux Arts, Paris, Stone Lithography Studio
1979 University of Northumbria, B.A. (Hons) Fine Art

Recent Solo Exhibitions

2015 The White Room Gallery, Leamington Spa
2014 ‘Landscapes’ Harborne Art Gallery
2013 Millard & Lancaster, Shrewsbury
2012 ‘Etchings’ Number Nine, The Gallery, Birmingham
2011 ‘Limited Editions’ The White Room Gallery, Bath
2010 galeria la rampa, Vejer de la Frontera
2009 el palomar de la breña, Barbate

Recent Mixed & Selected exhibitions

2015 Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead
50:50, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham
Work on Paper, the PMC at The Barbican
RCA Secrets, the Royal College of Art
Prints and Drawing, Art Mill Gallery, Plymouth
2014 Landmark Autumn Art Fair, Teddington
Manchester Art Fair
CMYK, Pie Factory, Margate
RBSA Open Print Biennale
The Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea
Freshly Pressed, Craft Central, Clerkenwell
Works on Paper, The Science Museum, London
2013 Royal West of England Annual Open, Bristol
Manchester Art Fair, Cambridge Art Fair
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Upstairs Gallery, Beccles, Suffolk,
BPM 30th Anniversary Exhibition,Birmingham City Art Gallery
‘Fauna’, Gallery Top, Matlock, Derbyshire
Art in Rure, John Lewis, Solihull
‘Master Etchers’ The White Room, Bath
2012 The Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead
Edinburgh Art Fair
Millard & Lancaster Summer Show, Shrewsbury
Turn, Turn, Turn, The Margate Gallery
The Royal Society of British Artists, The Mall Galleries
The Art of the Horse, Obsidian Art, Stoke Mandaville
2011 ‘Contemporary Printmakers’ Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford
The Discerning Eye, The Mall Galleries, London
Nottingham Castle Annual Open
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Collections

V&A, works on paper
BP International, Brussels
Northern Arts
Darlington Museums and art galleries
Gateshead libraries and museum services