SAMUEL HENCHER S T R E E T L I F E
A study in urban exploration, Street Life by acclaimed artist Samuel Hencher takes the viewer on a voyage of discovery around the UK’s second city, offering a new perspective through watercolours and oil paintings. Hencher intends to evoke the sense of flicking through his sketchbook; they are familiar landscapes as seen through the eyes of an artist. From Birmingham’s iconic waterways to vistas across its unmistakable skyline, the residual industrialism of the city juxtaposes its polished modernity in this captivating body of work. Hencher’s paintings are as traditional as they are divergent. Commonplace scenes are made dramatic by the light, whilst classical compositions are delivered with modern application. Any pursuit of perfection is an anathema to Hencher; his penchant for working from sketches or studies rather than reference photography stems from his belief that it “keeps the work looser and truer”. Similarly, he has developed a technique of applying multiples layers to his oil paintings to achieve a slightly mottled finish, keeping the overall presentation from appearing too polished and refined, lest it lose its authenticity.
elite Florence Academy of Art, he has subsequently veered away from some of the more technical aspects of his education to develop a freer style of working. Hencher’s focus is always on the painting itself, rather than on the subject of the painting. Mastery over the space within each scene, along with a virtuosity of touch, allows the artist to draw through the light as his focal point. He observes: “The more mundane the location, the more the light is allowed to take centre stage and play a key role.” author Henry Miller, who painted throughout his life – Hencher is a multidisciplinary artist. The cinematic feel to his work may be attributed in part to his career as a visual effects artist with a specialism in Flame software and a background producing music videos and directing commercials. He relates this back to his observational artistic style, adding: “The human eye is essentially a 35mm lens.” That lens, both anatomically and metaphorically, has been trained upon the city of Birmingham to bring forth the impressionistic flair that makes Street Life a collection worthy of such note. Like so many true creatives before him – from celebrated poet and painter William Blake to the
His pedigree is prodigious; a former student at the
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