Passionart

MJ Forster

Born in Oxford in 1975, MJ Forster is an established name in British landscape painting. He studied at Newcastle College of Art and Design, before embarking on a Science degree. Painting and drawing remained at the core of his activity and upon graduation he quickly resumed his artistic career. Over the past ten years, interest and demand in Forster’s work has grown considerably in the UK. The artist has continued his artistic progression travelling extensively to develop his watercolour technique. Over a period of two years he lived, worked and exhibited his paintings in South East Asia, Mexico, Northern America and Canada eventually reaching the Arctic Circle before spending an intensive developmental period drawing and painting in Otago, New Zealand. Working Plein Air in these challenging yet inspiring locations has defined the way the artist has sought to find the very soul of the landscape. Initially, Forster’s new work has a sense of perceived simplicity. The heightened colour values are realised by a time consuming exploration of the subject matter that eventually leads to a series of controlled watercolour washes empathetic to the screen-printing process. The methodical layering of the separate washes, applied dry on dry, allows the surface to open up a much broader palette. Forster likens the work to a sonnet in the sense that they are created within a restrictive framework and out of that limitation a greater creativity emerges. From his romantic portrayal of the recently proclaimed national park; his view of the Downs is rooted in the nascent beauty of an agricultural harvest. Forster’s work on the South Coast is suggestive of a time of day closer to sunrise; the rose hues in the palette bathe the cliff formations in pink, as two stark white sails of spinnakers imply a more human intervention in the scene.