Chris Corish
We caught up with Chris Corish, who has one artwork in the Tŷ Pawb Open exhibition titled ‘Cambrian Coast’, and asked him a few questions…
- Where are you from?
Complicated question, in short, Wales with English upbringing, these days I generally say I’m from Ceredigion as its where I have spent my adult life and its where my family lived most recently to keep things simple.
In long, you probably don’t want to know but it explains why I gave you a vague answer. My address at the time of birth was in a village in Denbighshire, although I was born in Wrexham, brought up in Shropshire, London and Surrey and have been living in Ceredigion since 2016 bar 7 months in Yorkshire.
- How long have you been a practicing artist for?
Depends how you define a practising artist, but we won’t get into that debate again!
In short, I have been producing work of sailable standard since 2015, selling work since 2016, and exhibiting work since 2015, so we will call it about 5 years.
I studied Fine Art at Aberystwyth School of Art at Aberystwyth University and read Museum Studies at the University of Leeds
- How has Lockdown effected the way you work?
Well in a weird way it benefitted my work as in March I was in a small studio flat in the City of Leeds, the changes in university from in-person to online, allowed me to move back to Ceredigion, where I have been able to have more space and time to produce artwork.
- Where do you find the most pleasure in your practice?
I am not sure how to answer this question, I just enjoy playing with colours and shapes!
- What impression do you want your work to make on audiences?
I like to try and help the audience understand how I see colour and shape in the world around me through my work. I notice the interrelation of the colours and shapes in the everyday. I am inspired by snapshots of found compositions from the everyday. One line of enquiry in my work surrounds the use of historical locations, archive documents, historical Artefacts. I enjoy finding new and interesting ways to try and engage with past and present, focusing often on the obscure, the unnoticed tensions of everyday colours and shapes extracted from there context and put into the limelight
Aside from this, I asked two of my closet friends who have supported my work for a number of years! Below I have paraphrased their comments:
Friend A: You take everyday scenes and make them into something special, challenging the viewer to think beyond what they see around them.
Friend B: Something that comes through in how you take old things and incorporate them into new work. Giving old pieces new life. Things that were forgotten forever or would have been thrown out if you had not done something with then.
