I am a contemporary abstract artist making work that communicates a meditative sense of space and light, influenced by the sensation of being in landscape and the natural world. I work across a variety of media creating works on paper, oil on canvas, and small scale plaster sculptures. My focus is about the physicality of the materials I use and how it feels to work with them, the effect of mark-making, of juxtaposed and layered colours and how the materials respond to my desire to reduce and distill and therefore achieve a lightness of touch.
I do this through a slow and gentle process of adding and subtracting so that a delicate and luminous patina remains. I work in series so that each piece is influenced and relates back, reflecting how the experience of time spent in a landscape evolves. Using the materials in the way that I do creates a soft, blurred and glowing effect which for me evokes those experiences.
I want to convey the feeling of being in the natural world, especially in places that are open, flat and spacious, as these sorts of places make me feel unburdened and lifted. The objects I create are a distillation of that feeling and also have a quietness and space for reflection, in a way that resonates rather than describes.
I grew up in Cheshire, on the Cheshire plain, in a small market town, where I experienced the view across the flat landscape toward the Peak District in one direction and the Welsh hills in the other. There is something about being surrounded by wide open spaces and distant views which has stayed with me and I feel very much informs the work.
I originally studied Graphic Design in Manchester, and then worked in the charity sector. I returned to study Fine Art as a mature student, graduating first class from the University of Hertfordshire in 2016. Since then I have completed a five-year fellowship with Digswell Arts Trust and now work from my home studio in north London.
The artist Agnes Martin has been a major influence for me and other artists such as Rachel Whiteread, Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn, Gwen John, Rebecca Salter, Callum Innes and John Cage are generally in the back of my mind. It is their exploration of minimalism, delicate, restrained and stained colour, division of space, exploration of form, treatment of surface and use of chance that continue to inspire my work.
In the last year I have exhibited with Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Southwark Park Gallery, Linden Hall Gallery, Parndon Mill Gallery and Broadway Gallery. More examples of my art practice can be seen at instagram/jbottery.
Photo: Gimara Duncan Rice