Kieran Stiles: Artist in Residence, on form 2022

About

This body of works represents the culmination of Stiles’ residency, which began in the spring and consists of paintings and drawings created in response to the on form sculpture exhibition and the exquisite surroundings of Asthall Manor’s garden.

As an outdoor exhibition, on form lent itself well to Stiles’ signature habit of painting en plein air. He made studies of the sculptures and gardens which inspired the drawings and paintings presented in the exhibition.

Each of Stiles’ paintings is a unique expression of a particular time and place. Layers of oil paint are superimposed with fractured marks, dashes and splatters that capture the spirit of a continually changing landscape. The resulting images are evocative, full of vitality, and fizzing with life and electric colour.

Stiles has taught painting workshops at Asthall Manor for some years as part of his independent art school, Art Courses Oxford. As part of his exhibition, Stiles will bring these teaching skills back to the ballroom with a series of tutored classes providing creative and inspiring ways of connecting with the sculptures and gardens. He also lectures at The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in connection with their major exhibitions, and in 2019 was Visiting Research Fellow in the Arts at Merton College, Oxford, where his exhibition, Lightscape - also curated by Flora Fairbairn - was listed as a Top Pick in the Saturday Times by Rachel Campbell- Johnston.