SYDNEY KLUGMAN ARTIST
ARTIST STATEMENT
Born in Johannesburg Sydney studied the History of Art, then Art Therapy at Goldsmiths, which brought him a respect for the unconscious in art. He now paints full-time and teaches.
South Africa continues to have an influence on his art. Van Gogh, Cezanne and the Abstract Expressionists are important influences.
"For me it’s a process: forever searching for my own voice. A kind of rediscovery, a building on the past. My aim is always to reassess what I see”.
Colleague Clive Duncan writes, "There is a dualism in Sydney Klugman’s art. As a painter of figures and landscapes his subjects oscillate between the pictorial and the elusive; discovery, rediscovery and not the least, surprise".
Clive Duncan FRBS RBA SPS
Nadia Waterfield Fine Art Gallery Stockbridge 2020, WestBerks OS Insight 2019, 2022; London Brompton 2019, Stanley Spencer National Trust Burghclere, New Era Theatre Newbury; Henley On Thames Century Gallery, Henley Management College, Barry Keene. Tricycle Theatre Kilburn; Fairfield Hall Croydon, Brunel University.
Contact
Region:
Newbury and Central region
SOUTHVIEW
Stoney Lane, Ashmore Green
THATCHAM
RG18 9HD
Stoney La., off Kiln Rd. Southview is 1.8ml. north, on bend, steep drive.
As a young man in Johannesburg, Sydney felt the need to move and to study fine art. Having moved to England he studied at Wimbledon, moving on to the OU for the History of Art, then Goldsmiths studying Art Therapy, which brought him a respect for the unconscious in art. He now lives just outside Newbury painting full-time and teaching from time to time.
INSPIRATION
My paintings are influenced by places I have been Its textural quality is as they say the touchstone of memory
What I like is to capture the colours and energy in every square inch of the work.
In many ways, my sources based on observation are the more exciting approach for me. Abstracting from nature is really where my art takes on invention. Abstract painting in its purest form becomes so personal, psychological, soul searching and analytical.
I think my best works come from observation and memory and then the reinvention dialogue