This is the first in a series of articles exploring this fascinating subject. Each week we will consider a different artist who will discuss how their style has developed over time and what inspires them.
Peter Kotka works entirely from life, originally setting up the composition in a black box (type of stage) or similar. His work is built up in layers using grisaille (a style of monochromatic painting in shades of grey, used especially for the representation of relief sculpture) under painting building up the paint layer and eventually glazing on top, working on canvas panels or boards that he produces himself.
“My painting style has developed over 30 years,” he reveals. “Originally I painted large landscapes of my surrounding area. Then I started to study Dutch artists for instance, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628 to 1682) and Andreas Schelfhout (1787 to 1870) to name but two. My work then became smaller and more detailed, until there was a point when I felt I was painting the wrong subject. So I started to research and paint still life, inspired by other Dutch and Flemish Masters. Gradually my work became even finer and more detailed.
“I then started to experiment with new angles and view points and painting the image far larger than real life. Finally I was able to work from a narrative which gave greater meaning to the piece. This also led to me producing more and more realistic work that took the painting beyond photography. My time is now spent working between these two ‘styles’. The realism of the smaller still life paintings does not need narrative as it is an attempt to reproduce life through paint and hopefully stands on its own.”
There is much painstaking detail in Peter’s work and this statement explains it well: “Realism is far more abstract that abstract painting itself, as every brush stroke in an abstract painting is what it is, in a realist piece each brush stroke and mark is trying to be something that it isn’t.”
For Peter the painting process is a passion with a fresh challenge being presented every day.
