William Foyle
William Foyle

Life’s journeys are an inspiration for artist

William Foyle, the upcoming and inspired Scots talent defined by Sir Timothy Clifford as ‘one to watch’ at the tender age of 18, will showcase his latest collection of artworks in his fourth solo exhibition.

Hosting ‘Landscapes’ from 11 – 23 June 2019 at Asia House in London, Foyle’s recent paintings mark a bold and intrepid shift as he moves from painting figures to landscapes, from expressing representational to implying psychological.

The culmination of three years’ work which began immediately after his 2015 London exhibition, Foyle at just 26 years old, is firmly engaged with his roots, personal journey and story so far. It is family and all that it encompasses, which has fed and fuelled this collection and the profession to which he is utterly dedicated – from his diverse heritage to the sound of music in his childhood home and the soundscapes he is passionate about today.

Intrigued by his paternal Hungarian Jewish heritage, Foyle was spurred to travel extensively through the lesserknown outposts of Eastern Europe. It began by car when he drove across Serbia in 2015 through Romania and Bulgaria, but it was when he began exploring the destinations travelling by train that ‘Landscapes’ was inspired and truly flourished.

William Foyle

From Turkey to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, and across the continent to North Africa and India, the aperture of a train window soon became Foyle’s means of undisturbed observation. It was during this time travelling and absorbing the landscapes meditatively, that a new direction in his painting was realised.

Foyle documented his journeys on a pocket camera and these images scattered his Wood Green, London studio on his return, yet, a single photograph became Foyle’s starting point for each piece and was isolated before beginning each painting, the rest being removed out of sight.

An intense working period resolved within a single day or night, produced an individual painting that in Foyle’s own words: ‘Ggoes somewhere very far from my original idea and from representative reality.’

This collection sees Foyle reduce his palette to just three colours and yet, with tonal autonomy free-flowing forms and strokes, breathe intense colour on the surface of the canvas with Foyle pushing the paint to its limits.

Nostalgic, challenging and anticipating, Foyle’s psychological landscapes will demand the viewer’s complete absorption, taking them on what Foyle hopes to be ‘a very personal journey of their own.’

A formidable creative force whose future wants watching, Foyle will be hosting Landscapes from 11 – 23 June 2019 at: Asia House, New Cavendish Street, London.

An artist, who at just 26 years old, is firmly engaged with his roots, personal journey and story so far, and inspired by everything from his diverse heritage to the sound of music in his childhood home and the soundscapes he is passionate about today.

Earning himself an art scholarship to Stowe, at 13, he became the youngest pupil ever to receive the Drawing Prize. He entered The Edinburgh College of Art at 18 but after three months, decided to forge his own path and has since held successful exhibitions across London, Ireland and the USA, with works held in collections across France, Monaco, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, the UK and America.

One of his self-portraits was bought in 2016 for the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Collection.

The son of an English Hungarian father and an Irish mother, Foyle’s early life was immersed in music, surrounding himself with the classical works of Bartok, Liszt and Stravinsky, which have become the backdrop across all of his work to date.

For further information or to see more of his work, visit www.williamfoyle.com

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