An electric shock to the senses
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New Age painter Sacha Jafri on what ‘magical realism’ is all about.
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Magical twist: Sacha Jafri at work.
HAVING graduated from the Ruskin, Oxford University, with a first in painting, Sacha Jafri is now considered one of the most exciting British painters on the contemporary art scene. Hailed by the BBC London News as “The Renaissance Man who is s
et to seduce us away from conceptual art with his passion for painting”, he is leading a revival of painting through his genre ‘Magical Realism.’ Excerpts from an interview:
How was your journey towards becoming a recognised artist?
I initially achieved an Art Scholarship to Eton College, London, where I came first in the country in Art A-Level. This was my first major encouragement, along with my headmaster’s wife buying my first painting! She was a major collector of art and owned Mondrians, Kandinskys, Chagals, Schielles, and a prized Picasso. I clearly remember her taking down her Mondrian to see what my painting would look like. It was my later studies at K.I.A.D. that convinced me of painting as my lifetime career: it was either that or cricket, which I loved to play and toured with England! I went on to study History of Art at Oxford where I spent a lot of time studying anatomy and life drawing.
It all started from there really. After graduating, I had my first exhibition at the Wentworth Gallery, Surrey, where all 14 of my oil on canvas paintings sold out for an average of £20,000, the highest for any under-25. This definitely encouraged me to move onto my next collection.
Painting at the beginning was obviously a very different story and was always pretty hard work. I had three jobs at the beginning to fund my painting, I worked in a bar, as night security on a golf course, and as a model. The whole aim was to buy myself enough time to paint a collection (about 14 paintings), which I then took around to the galleries to see what would happen.
I loved this time even though it was really hard work with not much sleep (not much more than four hours a night max as I would paint late in the evening after a full day’s work) and it was obviously full of self-doubt and rejections. I still see money as something which merely buys me more time to paint. My success as a painter has given me more time to concentrate solely on my paintings and my next collection; I am obviously very grateful for this.
Who do you feel has influenced art the most this century?
Joplin, Hirst and Saatchi’s significant influence on art this century can certainly not be ignored. For the best? I don’t know. The Shock Art movement never inspired or excited me, but it has set a big stage bringing awareness to British Art helping painters like me move forward into a new and more uplifting form of art with more varied audiences. Also, the great artists of the last century — Picasso, Bacon, Monet, Warhol, Pollock, Kandinsky — have still had a major influence on this century’s art and will probably continue to do so.
Which artists have influenced you? What is your main influence?
My inspirations actually come mainly from writers and filmmakers like Franz Kafta, Garcia Marquez, Tim Burton, Stanley Kubrik, Rohinton Mistry, Sam Mendes, Khaled Hosseini. But I am also influenced by artists such as Tinguely, Pollock, Kandinsky, Gorky, Schielle, Picasso, Lautrec, Degas and Van Gogh.
More importantly, my surroundings are everything –— the people, landscapes, colours, sounds and smells are my greatest influence. I am particularly inspired by the lines and shapes of buildings, rivers, trees, figures, clouds –— all against the sky –— this is where all the magic can be found, it is all there right in front of us.
The Embrace at Tower Bridge”.
I paint in a very similar way to Pollock, the way in which he approached a canvas. I paint from the subconscious, which means that I will spend my conscious hours feeding my subconscious. This means that what comes out is directly related to my inner most emotions.
I feed my subconscious with travel, talking to as many individuals as possible, taking in as many different angles on views, landscapes, waters, smells, sounds and listen to as much soul nurturing opera and classical music as possible.
You do a lot of live art. Does this help when producing a picture? Why do you do this, and how do you go about doing a painting?
Well I should say first that I am always consciously trying to bring back the painter, the old art of oil, brush and canvas –— the same materials as the Old Masters. I want the viewer to slow down the process of looking at and appreciating art, to enjoy a private experience and ultimately create a unique relationship with my paintings. This could even be a dialogue, not necessarily a reaction.
I believe that paintings are not just about the finished product but also the passion that goes into making each piece of work. This is the reason for the live paintings. It is very scary, often with lots of pressure, but it always seems to bring out something really exciting and unique. I painted live in front of 5,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall as well as in Dubai, Singapore, New York, Monaco and Salzburg.
Once I am in the right frame of mind I go into the studio and stare at the blank canvas without doing any sketching at all. I stare at the canvas until, through intense concentration, I fall into a meditative state. I am then deep within the subconscious. Sometimes through many hours of just staring and working my eyes around the canvas, I will get a sense of how the whole painting should look. This will be the emotion I wish to convey and I will eventually see exactly how the emotion should be portrayed. I just follow the feeling that has now become a visual reference in my head –— this is all done in a semi-state of consciousness. Once I know I have a clear vision and a clear idea of the image and the feel of the piece I start painting –— marks and colours usually fly around the room. I pour, flick, brush, use fingers, rub, scrub, paint will go everywhere and the image evolves through the paint.
I merely allow it to flow until the image finds itself. It’s like an investigative journey. I pretty much always know when the journey has come to an end, but the painting will not be totally finished until the viewer creates his/her personal relationship with that piece of work.
My paintings are organic and hopefully grow forever with the viewer through their on-going relationship.
Magical Realism is bringing extreme realism to the depiction of mundane subject matter. Could it not be then seen as fantasy?
I guess that any form of escapism (magical realism) can be seen as fantasy, although I prefer to see my work as an electric shock to the senses, an image that ultimately reminds the viewer of the beauty often taken-for-granted. It aims to make emotions jump from the canvas on which I paint.
Tell us about your upcoming exhibition ‘Disappearing Landscapes’.
The show has a particular focus on London’s landscapes that, through continued regeneration, are ever-changing; some may not be around much longer. It exposes landscapes and views that are disappearing as well as views that have become so over-familiar that they are starting to disappear in our minds. So it is re-awakening these views.
One could say an attempt to bring back the magic and help the viewer be inspired from their daily surroundings once again. For example, I draw attention to The Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge, so one can re-examine these icons. The exhibition is not foreboding or morose, but it is a celebration of the energy, atmosphere and beauty of both our rural and urban landscapes. I aim to awaken the viewers’ senses, that uninhibited child-like freedom, but I want each viewer to explore individually and make the piece their own. My paintings are a reality that we know and recognise but hopefully have a magical twist to them taking us further into our world encouraging us to be uplifted by our known surroundings and to delve a little deeper the next time we look around us.
