Leeds Art Gallery Visit/Assessment Post, January 5th, 2018.

"My views in life are so completely blasted that I sink under the repeated and constant exertion of body and mind. Every effort has been tried, even without the hope of success. Hence the loss of spirits amounting almost to despair." -John Sell Cotman, 26th June 1829.

My trip to Leeds Art Gallery over the holidays was an eye opening and inspirational experience for me and has definitely helped in changing my attitude towards my practice and methods when I create work. The gallery consisted of some contemporary works but consisted mainly of classical, renaissance style pieces (religious oil paintings, symbolic sculptures and depictions of past events).

It wasn't until I saw the work of Cotman that the trip changed from intriguing to inspirational, his large amount of detailed sketchbook work stood out to me, it was clear that Cotman was a gifted artist who depicted scenes of everyday life, capturing scenes that would otherwise go unnoticed to someone passing through. It is that ethos that struck me most, as my work consisted of capturing scenes of despair in our urban culture; homelessness, violence and the desire for something better. We live in an unfair and careless world, and that is amplified even more so in large cities, I wanted to tell the story of people and places that would not be given a second thought from the general population, that is why Cotman was so inspirational to me.

Cotman's practice and methodology was so dedicated and groundbreaking to me, the sheer amount of work he had created is monumental to say the least, taking a sketchbook wherever he went, drawing these scenes that were interesting to him, it affected me greatly because I long to be more productive and less critical of my work, my aim is to work productively and quickly in order to create work that isn't beautiful or visually appealing, but work that has significance to me because it reminds me of when I was there, I lived through that experience and want to share it with others.