TALENTED ARTIST INTERVIEW: JOHN BALL

The Talented Art Fair is back at the Old Truman Brewery for its third edition from 1 to 3 March 2019. As part of a series of interviews with some of the exhibiting artists, we caught up with landscape artist John Ball ahead of the fair to find out more about him and his work.

In just a few words, who are you and what do you do?
My name is John Ball and I make paintings.

What is your background?
I studied at the London Metropolitan University in Whitechapel and lived in East London for many years before moving out to the suburbs.

How would you describe your work?
A bleak, atmospheric interpretation of the modern landscape, a study of socio-economic decline and regeneration

Talk us through your creative process,
I work from my own photographs which I process in photoshop before rendering in oils.

Who and what are your biggest influences?
I Love a bit of Edward Hopper and early Hockney and am Inspired by the photorealistic painting style of artists like John Baeder, Ralph Goings, John Salt, and Robert Bechtle. More recently, Banksy’s Dismaland played a big part in renewing my interest in painting; it was inspiring to see such an eclectic mix of contemporary artists collaborating on such an innovative project. In my opinion it was a totally unique and unpretentious approach to an art exhibition with such a good balance of dark humour and political satire that really captured the imagination of the general public.
I’d say I am influenced as much by film and video games as I am by photography and painting. Movies by David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, George A Romero, Stanley Kubrick,and Quentin Tarantino have played a big part in influencing my practice. I don’t get much time to play video games these days but am still a big fan of the GTA series and more recently have been dipping into Red Dead Redemption 2 which is absolutely incredible!

You were a finalist on the Sky Arts Landscape Painter of the Year. How would you describe the experience?
It was a great experience, I hadn’t really been painting very much by the time I applied and was pretty much thrown in at the deep end! I was up against full time professional artists so it was a real boost to my confidence when I got through to the semi finals. It certainly had a positive effect on my productivity and has generated a lot of interest.
Who would you say are your favourite contemporary artists?
There are some really great landscape artists out there at the moment. I really like the work of Andy Cropper, Paul Regan, Jonathan Stockley, Alex Selkowitz, and Timothy Horn to name but a few.
What makes you get up and create art?
I guess there is just something in the back of my brain ticking away that drives me to create. People say to me I see the world differently and see beauty in the mundane. I suppose I am just trying to make people see the way I see if only for a minute. I hope that doesn’t sound too pretentious; I think I would paint these things whether anyone was looking or not.
What will you be showing at Talented Art Fair?
I will be exhibiting a selection of my contemporary landscape paintings alongside some original pencil studies and limited edition prints.

TALENTED ART FAIR runs from 1-3 March at the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, London E1
Entry is free on Saturday and Sunday (12-6.30pm)
Tickets for the Private View on Friday (6-9pm) are available here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talented-art-fair-2019-tickets-52362324121