Artist Anthony Gadd is best known for his exquisitely drafted, sensitively painted, sepia nudes. In recent years though, his wild-life works have acquired increasing attention.
In both subjects, he demonstrates his skills as a fine draughtsman, working in mixed media in a unique style he created in early 2006, and which continues to evolve. Capturing moments in time, he breathes life into his figures and animals. A perfectionist, he chooses the subjects’ pose with the care and attention of a photographer, and any paintings he feels are not, in his eyes, achieving his goals, quickly get discarded.
He is drawn to the ever-changing harsh wildness of the sea and barren landscapes. Black patches of exposed rock adorn long stretches of isolated white beaches, catching light in exciting contrasts in his paintings, while the sea can change from an inviting turquoise to a brooding Prussian Blue in moments. All these “changes in time” are recorded on thousands of images and in his mind, to be recreated in his studio. In his art, light dances with dark, colour with monotone, in a style that encapsulates the “happy accident” – a term he uses to describe that part of painting that moves beyond his direct control.
In contrast to his watery seascapes, he has also followed another passion, born of a childhood spent in rural Africa. This wild vastness mirrors the iconoclastic artist not wanting to be constricted in thought or environment. The hugeness that is Africa has inspired him to create paintings that mirror this often isolated vista.
Eastern Cape born, he studied and has lived for most of his adult life in the Western Cape.
Originally trained as a graphic artist, Anthony Gadd went on to work in advertising, later becoming the MD of an advertising agency. His passion however lies in paint and in 2005 he turned to art full-time.
His work has appeared in a number of publications and he has exhibited widely. |
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Artist: ANTHONY GADD
Title: Rhino I
Size: 90 x 120 cm
Media: Acrylic on Canvas
ID: 29367
Price: R 21 875 Unframed |