FLETCHER SIBTHORP. THE STORY OF QUIET SPACE

Fletcher Sibthorp The Story of Quiet Space Born in Hertfordshire, England in 1967, Fletcher Sibthorp has had a successful career as a painter since graduating with Honours from Kingston University in 1989. Although predominantly known for his dance paintings, Fletcher has produced a number of very personal artworks as part of an ongoing series called ‘Quiet Space’. “The series represents for me, captured moments of human introspection and frailty, instants which exist and then are gone, whether an expression, the way light falls and catches the face, or a simple portrait. The simplicity of the paintings allows the viewer to naturally attach their own experiences and thoughts to the work. There is an underlying narrative in most of the pieces, but this is subtle - the contemporary paring-down juxtaposing the classical references and themes. “Technically I’ve found that over the years my work has become more considered – following classical practices and ideals. Inspired by the work I admire at The National Gallery and Tate Britain and the recent American resurgence in representational art, I embarked on the journey of honing my skills to create the work I wanted to create and to find my individual voice. “Embarking on what for me is a renewed journey, I want each piece to be gem-like, created with care and skill.” Overseen and directed by Fletcher at every stage of creation, these artisan-produced silk screen prints use Fletchers original paintings as a start point to develop exceptional new artworks. The intimate nature of his latest body of work is further developed and expressed in this special collection. Screen printing in its most basic form has its origins in perhaps the oldest form of printing, the stencil. The stencil was widely used in China and Japan as early as 500AD for textile printing and in conjunction with woodblock printing as a method of building up colour layers. The process ultimately found its way to Europe via the trade routes. As a fine art process the principle is essentially the same, using a stencil process to transfer an image onto a very fine mesh screen. The screen material is stretched across a frame and the printing ink pressed into the surface of the paper through the open part of the screen. Fine art silk screening is a highly sophisticated process using multiple, registered screens to build up subtle tone, texture and colour graduation. The appreciation of screen printing as a fine art process gained great respect in Europe and the US with the emergence of the 1960’s Pop Art Movement. The use of the method by artists such as Andy Warhol, Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton as part of their artistic output confirmed it as an adaptable and versatile process. Fletcher has worked with and overseen artisans, to create prints which have their starting point in his original paintings. By using between 20 and 30 screens and metallic leaf these prints are a very special development of his artistic production.