Advice from Contemporary Painters: Part 2

The seventh post of the series is up! For this article, we asked the contemporary painters Michele Mikesell, Carne Griffiths and Simon Parish what advice they would give to emerging artists.

To view our other posts in this series, please visit our main blog post ‘Advice for Emerging Artists‘.

Michele Mikesell

Michele’s work has been featured as one of today’s top Pop Surrealist artists, in publications like Juxtapoz Magazine, and her work characterized by playful and thought-provoking narratives. Most recently, her painting ‘Arizona Tumbleweed’ was selected for the Battersea Autumn Collection campaign! Mikesell’s work can be found internationally in many private and corporate collections, and exhibited in national and international art fairs including, London Art Fair, AQUA Miami; SCOPE Basel, Miami and New York City; The Suite Art Fair, Dallas; Art Santa Fe; Asia Contemporary, Hong Kong and the Affordable Art Fair New York City, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

‘Be honest with yourself and who you are. Don’t make dishonest art. When you are ready to move on – move on. If you’re not ready to move on, don’t. Don’t cater to what you think people want or expect from you or you will run out of fuel very quickly. Just make art. Make interesting pictures. Make what interests you. Be courageous. The world needs you right now.’

Carne Griffiths

Working primarily with calligraphy inks, graphite and liquids, such as tea, Griffiths’ fascination with drawing focuses on the creation and manipulation of the drawn line. Since establishing his own studio in 2010, Carne has exhibited in the UK and overseas with work shown at the London Original Print Fair, the Royal Academy, Stroke Art Fair, Affordable Art Fair and the London Art Fair. He also has solo exhibitions in Brighton, Hong Kong, Milan and Hamburg. You can sign up to Carne’s mailing list here, or follow his work on his website, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

‘My advice to any emerging artist would be to throw yourself wholeheartedly into your work and do not be too concerned about fashions and trends in the Artworld, your work will speak for itself and if it is honest and reflects your passion, people will see this and connect to the work.’

Simon Parish

Simon has exhibited extensively across the UK, showing work alongside impressive artists such as David Hockney and Lucian Freud. His drawings have been toured by the Jerwood Drawing Prize on multiple occasions and he has been shortlisted for the Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary. His practice spans a wide range of styles and mediums – view more of his work on his website or on Facebook.

‘The best thing an artist can have is a curiosity of the world around them. This could be an actual lived experience of the world or the world as experienced through technology or somewhere between the two. Without curiosity burning strongly it makes the process of creation all the harder. Enjoyment in what you do can really help and can be found in different areas of a practice, it’s not necessarily in the act of making, which can often just be hard work, enjoyment can often reside in the corners of processes that lead to the making of work. Don’t dismiss the slight or arbitrary thought, they can often lead to interesting possibilities.’

To view the other articles in this series, please click here.