Interview with Gary Armer

TVG: When did you first realize that you are an artist?

Gary Armer: Good question, that’s a very good question. I’m not quite sure when I first realized I was an artist as such, but it was certainly at primary school, so probably when I was 8 or 9 years old that I really gravitated toward art in quite a serious way. It was at sixth form college where I really fell in love with oil painting. I studied art, design, English, and geography, and the art classes were quite traditional with life models, and painting with traditional mediums like oil, and I fell in love with it. I had such passion when I was working on those projects. I think maybe then I felt like there was something in me that I was meant to do, to create art.

TVG: It sounds like it was this feeling that you had that was reassuring.

Gary Armer: I think so. I went on to study a degree in design and developed a career in creative marketing and branding. All the while, I was painting alongside. I read somewhere about how portraits are one of the hardest things to paint in a representational way. And I just enjoyed the challenge and thought, if I can paint portraits, there’s a good chance I can paint most other subject-matter. So going back to that feeling, when I was working, I was just constantly thinking about painting, and a lot of time, so engrossed in arts magazines and painting portraits for family members outside of work. And then over time, made that more serious and went part-time with my marketing, to work as a portrait artist essentially.

TVG: Did you have any hesitation about that change or about that commitment?

Gary Armer: I didn’t have any hesitation about the commitment. Naturally, with anything along these lines there’s financial concerns, trying to get something like that off the ground typically takes a little bit of time to grow, so I was quite careful in the way that I approached that. I secured a commission really early on to paint a portrait of the High Sheriff of Cumbria. So yeah, it was portraits like that, quite traditional realist portraiture that I loved to paint. And I spent a lot of time trying to find a way to reach out to people who would be interested and have the means to commission those sorts of portraits. And I really enjoyed it, I loved it at the time.

TVG: So, what does it mean to you to be an artist?

Gary Armer: It means a lot. I don’t want to say it means everything, I’m very much a family person as well, so it feels strange to say it means everything, because my family means everything, but it means a lot. It’s a big part of my identity, but I perhaps don’t think about it too much in that way. I think more about the work and about how it’s received and how it can improve, and less about me as a person. And it’s something that I feel called to do. It feels right when I’m doing it. And when I am not painting for a period of time, especially when I was doing more of the marketing work, so say I was working for 2 to 3 days away from the easel, I’d start to feel quite anxious, like I’m wasting time. Even though I had to do it and it was productive and it pays the bills, I’d feel anxious I wasn’t in front of the easel, and I wasn’t creating. In the back of my mind, I am wary that we are only on this planet for a short length of time, and there’s a finite amount of things I can create from an art point of view, so I feel like if I’m not at the easel pushing things forward, I’m not creating, and I’m not improving. I could feel a little bit anxious when I am not doing that.

TVG: I wonder if you had any challenges as an artist or even personal challenges that have informed your artwork.

Gary Armer in his studio in Lancashire, United Kingdom

Gary Armer: Yeah, so, naturally, all artists, all emerging artists face rejection with submitting artwork for exhibitions, for open calls and to galleries and so on, and I’m no different, so I suppose from my side there's a couple of things actually. Going back a few years ago, I had a real experimentational period where I was painting portraits, but I recognized that I wanted to paint less to commission and more just subject matter that I could paint every day, and not have to wait for someone to come and sit or commission me or so on. So I had a great period where I experimented and painted plein-air. I would go out and paint in the countryside around here, around Lancashire. I painted some paintings over in Switzerland, in the countryside there, which was great fun and I loved it. I experimented and pushed my portraiture a little bit as well. So I remember one day out here in the studio, I painted a really big, expressive portrait. And looking back, I was trying to find a way to paint quicker, to try and paint something big and expressive that I thought maybe galleries wanted to see or something along those lines perhaps. And I painted this portrait, or, I probably got 70% of the way through the piece, and it just didn’t feel right. And I remember being in my house, and you can see the studio from the house. And I looked across and I could see this big face looking back at me, this big portrait on the canvas, and I just cringed. I thought this isn’t right, this isn’t right. So I suppose it was a challenge, but it was also positive, because it set me back on the right track. So that was one thing, but I guess you know a bigger challenge, when I first started creating these Organized Chaos pieces, before they were done, I could see them already here in the studio, I could visualize them. I could imagine them as a series. I had real confidence that they would work, that they’d be popular and they’d be well received. And I think I painted the first two paintings perhaps, maybe three, and then I hadn’t shared it online to start with, because I recognized that people often need to see more to get a concept and to kind of appreciate it properly. I remember applying and sharing the work with a couple of select galleries here in the U.K. And it’s not rejection, it’s just being ignored that’s the kicker. That’s the killer. You know, you put your heart and soul into a piece for hundreds of hours, and you share with somebody excitedly and they don’t respond. I guess that was one of those real challenging times. But I believed in the work, and I believed it felt right. People who saw them in person were blown away by them. I’m lucky I’ve got family and friends that won’t just say what I want to hear, they’ll be very honest, and be quite critical if needed. And I could just tell by their reaction that they were good. And I guess it was just those months creating those next few works where I’m spending hundreds of hours in the studio, and wondering are these really going to be received? Am I right? Is this gonna be worthwhile of these hundreds of hours? And then when Life Finds A Way won the British Art Prize, that’s when I got my real shot in the arm, to say “YES”, they are worthwhile. 

TVG: This is what I love to hear from an artist. About your passion and your excitement. So what do you see the role of art in the world today and your role as an artist? You mentioned your calling, almost like it’s a duty or a service. How do you see art in our society and your role as an artist?

Gary Armer with his award winning painting Life Finds a Way

Gary Armer: I think art within society can be and do a number of things. It can obviously communicate messages, it can comment on the world around us, on things happening in the world around us. And it can be really quite deep as well. I think from my point of view, and with my artwork, I’m quite keen to create and find and explore beauty, perhaps where people wouldn’t necessarily think of beauty. So I guess in terms of that role of art and where I hope my artwork fits in is something that people can engage with, that hopefully they find beautiful, or at least find it interesting and engaging. And ideally, works that make people stop and think and look for a lengthy period of time. I’m quite aware, as I’m sure most people are, of how distracting this world is now, since the proliferation of smart devices and social media, and consistent interruption from a digital point of view. And I think we’re lucky to have the time before all of this where you could get bored. There were times when I remember being a youngster and reading or having more time to listen to music, and those sorts of things, whereas now, it’s just so easy to pick up a phone and with a few clicks you can be distracted, you can scroll Instagram, you can be reading emails. I think painting artworks that make people stop and look for a period of time, is kind of, quite a big part of my work. I don’t come from a particularly wealthy background or have any major connections in the art world or anything on those lines. And I think, I don’t know any artists personally, local to me, who have gone on to have a career of any kind of note in the art world, and so on. And I think for me, I’d love if my journey seems inspirational for the people who perhaps come from a similar background to me. I guess when I was at college and making those decisions about university, I couldn’t see a pathway to become a successful artist, and maybe that’s why I leaned into the marketing and design and branding a little bit more, because it felt a little bit more vocational and practical and safe. I wouldn’t change it. I wouldn’t change it, but I think that’s perhaps why that happened, and I think going forward in future when my children are a little bit older and they’re making decisions about their lives for what they want to do, it would be really nice and special if they can look at what I’ve done and see me follow that passion and that calling, and not just opt for a safer career.

Gary Armer visiting the Statue of Liberty in New York City, October, 2000.

TVG: Artist as inspiration. This is so fascinating. Were your parents supportive of you as an artist? Did they have an influence on you as an artist?

Gary Armer: From an artistic point of view, neither of my parents are massively artistic. My father’s quite good at drawing. But in terms of support, while I mentioned that we perhaps didn’t have lots of money growing up, we never missed out on anything, so my parents would always make sure, if there’s something we really wanted to do or were passionate about, they’d support us. In terms of my artwork, simple things like always having a desk, a space in my bedroom growing up where I could work, not just doing schoolwork, but I could do creative work and draw and paint was really important. One thing is when I was in high school, the art teacher at the time organized a school art trip to New York. This was in 2000, so when I was 15. It had never been done before. I don’t think it was repeated again, it was a total one off. This art teacher decided it would be great for the students who were really quite interested in art to have a trip to somewhere as exciting as New York, and to take in some galleries. And yeah my mum and dad made sure when I was showing interest in this, they made sure I was able to go, which was really special. So to think that my artwork 24 years later, is going to then be shown in New York City is quite special really.

TVG: This is such a nice circle that you are describing. Do you remember any of the places you visited when you were in New York?

Gary Armer: Yes, we went to the Museum of Modern Art and we went to the Guggenheim. As a 15-year-old in a place like New York, coming from a quiet rural area in the Northwest of England, for someone at my age at that time, it was a real eye opener. It was really exciting, it was a great trip.

TVG: Have you visited a lot of museums in your life? Do you have a favorite museum?

Gary Armer at the Rijksmuseum, April, 2006.

Gary Armer: I absolutely love visiting museums and galleries. So from a gallery point of view, throughout my 20s, while I didn’t do a prolonged period of travel like a lot of people do at that age, my wife and I, we’d often do European city breaks. We’d go to Amsterdam, go around the Rijksmuseum, we’d go to Madrid, we'd go to Barcelona, Rome, go to all these European cities, and we’d always ensure we explored the best galleries in those places as you can imagine. In terms of favorite galleries, I'm not sure I’ve got a favorite. I do love the National Portrait Gallery because of my background in portraiture, so I do love visiting there. The National Gallery as well in London. And then the local gallery to me, the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston. It has some lovely realist portraiture in there and fine arts. And there’s a particular painting in there, that has always been a little bit of a favorite of mine, it’s called Pauline in the Yellow Dress, and it was a portrait by a society painter back to 30s, 40s, and it was known as kind of “Mona Lisa of the North”, or something. There’s just something about it, the way her gesture has been captured on canvas is enthralling, you can’t look away from it. And for me, it’s very much secondary, but it makes such an impact, the dress she’s wearing, it’s got a really intricate pattern on it. And the way the artist depicted this pattern, I remember being stood in the Harris Gallery, just in awe and staring; first and foremost at the portrait, but then at the detail, and the time and the commitment and the effort that the artist went to to paint so accurately. But it made such a difference, and I found that painting really reassuring because I spent so much time on some of my work and I sometimes think, you know, should I be looser, should I be moving on quicker? And I often think back to that painting.

TVG: So did you know about this painting before you went to this gallery or you just were walking by and were grabbed? 

Gary Armer: No, funnily enough, I didn’t know about it. I’ve since found out it is one of the most popular paintings in the collection. Quite a famous one for them. And I remember it just capturing my attention and sort of stopped me in my tracks really. And what was quite nice was, I wrote a blog about the piece at the time, I think it was 2014 perhaps, and it was picked up by the gallery. It was 70 years that the painting had been in the gallery, so they did a series of events and talks around this particular piece, and they actually invited me to do a talk, as a local artist inspired by the work. So I guess that cemented it even more, in a way, for me, to be a favorite piece of mine. And what’s quite nice I suppose, is that because It’s only a 20-minute drive away, I felt like I had a little bit more of a connection to it somehow. You know, it’s not in London in some big shining gallery, and it’s not a painting that everybody has necessarily heard of.

Gary Armer, at work in his studio

TVG: It’s everything you’re talking about that art should be. This painting inspired you and now you are talking about wanting your painting to inspire other people. Was there an artist who you looked at for inspiration or even growing up, one that you had kind of latched on to?

Gary Armer: I am trying to think. So certainly James Gunn, who painted Pauline in the Yellow Dress I was drawn to, cause that was at a time when I was almost, not intentionally, but almost following in their footsteps as a society portrait artist I guess. Because I was trying to paint representational portraits of, you know, dignitaries and military personnel and formal portraits. I think I’m very much influenced by a number of artists, I wouldn’t say a particular one. I suppose that the inspiration I mention from time to time is the work of the stop-animator Ray Harryhausen. These creatures, the way they moved, I found them enthralling. I think the stop animation made them more, almost more real in a way, more unique and scary. I remember growing up watching some of those films and being amazed by them. And I think still now, the kind of forms and textures of those models, I’m particularly drawn to visually. And I guess that maybe reflects back in my paintings. I get so lost in those textures and details. I remember going to numerous galleries and exhibitions, especially back when I was working as well, and whenever I’d go into a place, I’d often come out feeling inspired, but also having this gnawing, anxious feeling that I mentioned earlier. I’d see these artworks on these gallery walls, and I’d feel frustrated that I wasn’t going back to create something or try to emulate or work towards having my artwork displayed on those sorts of walls. I remember it happening one particular time when I was in Liverpool. I worked in Liverpool for a number of years, for a creative agency there, and on one of my lunch breaks, I went to Tate Liverpool, to the gallery there, to see a surrealism exhibition I think it was. I remember staring at a piece for a good 10-15 minutes and almost feeling a little bit awkward that I wasn’t doing it. And I think it’s those sorts of moments when you look back and you think you’ve got to kind of go with your gut instinct, and I think that was my gut telling me I shouldn’t be going back to sit in front of my computer and working on marketing, I should be going to the studio.

TVG: There are so many people who don't listen to their gut. And here you are an example of the fulfillment and the feeling that you get from following your instinct.

Gary Armer: Sure, sure, yeah, I think so. I don’t want it to sound easy because it’s not, it really isn’t. Especially in this day and age, with pressures, you know financially, people are so stretched to be so many things. It’s hard to follow your gut and get something up and running and off the ground. But life is short isn’t it, so if you can, it’s definitely worth it, pursuing.

TVG: Words of wisdom.

Gary Armer: Haha.

Gary Armer is the winner of the 2022 British Art Prize and is the subject of the January 2024 Artists & Illustrators feature article Unveiling the extraordinary in the ordinary with The British Art Prize 2022 winner. He lives and paints in northern England.

Artists & Illustrators Magazine  |  January 2024  |  Issue 464