Joe Grieve on his love letter to nature.

Leo: Joe, thanks for taking the time to chat with me, i know this week must have been pretty mental in the build up to this show! Lets start with something easy….What drives you to paint?

Joe: I would probably have to say the satisfaction and immediacy of putting paint on the canvas and seeing how the painting unfolds. But also the unknowing of what comes next, it’s exiting and surprising. There’s a fluidity to oil paint that’s unlike any other medium.

L: I get that, there is clearly an influence of nature in your work, when did you notice this really becoming important in your life?

J: If I look back I think it has always be prevalent in my life but when I was a child I guess I didn’t realise how important it was. A lot of my fondest memories are running around in the woods. As I’ve gotten older, living and working in London, its almost like feeding a craving going to the country side, bounding through the woods like Bambi. It is amazing to have so many parks in London, although they just don’t compare to the great outdoors and wilderness of further afield.

L: I don’t think I will ever un-see the image of you as bambi now haha! Something else evident in your work is the influence of art history, how important is it for you to look back to move forward?

J: Very important. It’s like borrowing knowledge from the people who have done it before you.  If I ever feel really stuck, I’ll go to the national gallery to find some inspiration. Looking at other artists colour combinations, brush marks and compositions helps to reinvigorate my desire to paint. Turner and Monet are a few of my favourites. 

L: Well as an art historian I couldn’t applaud that more, I think its impossible to move forward without first looking at what has come before. If only to learn what not to do! Talk to me a little about your painterly process, where do these works begin?

J: Sometimes they begin with a specific reference, such as a photo of a landscape or another painting. I prime the canvas with two layers of glue and then three layers of acrylic paint. I often use the abstract shapes within the primed layer as a starting point for the composition. These accidental marks become the skeleton of the work, not visible but integral to the structure. 

L: Interesting, do you create works in other media too?

J: I like to draw too, but sometimes I find it more challenging than painting because I’m used to the grander scale (of painting) and using the movement of my whole body. I am quite a physical person, and have the urge to build things, so when I had access to a wood workshop and metal workshop whilst completing my BA, I loved to experiment with sculpture. 

L: Sure, I guess paper can’t take as much of a beating as canvas…This current show of yours with Brushes with Greatness is filled with different influences and styles, what was the time period for making these?

J: I would say the majority of them were made in the last 4 months. I did the works on paper first, and used a lot of those as inspiration or plans for the works on canvas.  

L: Typically do you create works in a series or mostly as individual pieces?

J: I would say in a broad sense I make series of works. I create individual paintings with individual themes, but naturally, they’re often connected to each other. Learning from previous paintings, my ideas are constantly evolving. The series emerge when I find a particular colours palette or mark making technique that I latch onto and utilise in multiple pieces. 

L: Sure, looking at this exhibition, there are certain marks that are seen throughout, and understanding your process of layering is helping me understand just what I am looking at a bit more. Here is a slightly more usual question for you; If you could collaborate with another creative, whether it be actor, designer, musician, artist or other discipline, who would it be and why?

J: Wow…That’s a broad question with so many potential answers. But Wes Anderson comes to mind, because his films are so fun and aesthetically on point. It would be pretty cool to work along side him and create a series of paintings to feature in one of his stories. Acting along side the works would be mad, too.

L: Great answer, I think as a director he probably takes his set design more seriously than any others I can think of! I could definitely see a Joe Grieve character suiting one of his stories pretty well… Moving on from that flight of fancy to another, if you had no temporal, spatial or financial limitations, what would you create?

J: I would definitely like to create a full immersive experience, sort of like a fun house / maze situation. Where different rooms would have different installations involving my paintings and involving as many senses as possible. I’d have a mirror maze with segments cut out and replaced with paintings. Lights, mirrors and optical illusions would have to be involved to immerse the participants. Each room would have a different situation, from the wet over grown  jungle, to the darkness of outer space, to the hazy hot deserts, and all the other extremes of the natural world.