AMY DURY

ABOUT

My subject matter is mostly figurative, I am naturally drawn to imagery from the past, especially the '70s and '80s, and the work of British social documentary photographers. The activity of choosing imagery and selecting composition is key to the final outcome. Looking back into our recent past is an act of remembering and nostalgic mis-remembering, with photographs becoming the memory which constructs stories about ourselves. I am also drawn to the times gone past which seem less self conscious, more free and full of what we were becoming. I used to look at social documentary photography but my recent work has come mainly from Screen Archive South East, which is a bank of amateur videos collected by the University of Brighton, and I like to watch these and take screenshots. I prefer this as each image is going to be much more personal for me than a still photograph, already framed and chosen by the photographer. However I do still use photos from searches – and so another favourite theme is '60s hippy life, and I try to find new imagery for this online. I love the sense of hope, bravery and innocence. What I see from the archive film is also times of happiness, closeness, togetherness - all in saturated colour. The other angle on this is we know what happens next, and nostalgia is a curious feeling… not to be fully trusted.

Amy combines gesture and character with ideas of rich colour, areas of loose and tight and confidence in line. She works with oils to create evocative and nostalgic works of art, combining elements of realism with occasional abstract and gestural brushwork. Her greatest influences are Edgar Degas, Kaye Donachie, Peter Doig and John Singer Sargent - all use the figure to convey narrative alongside beautiful painterly technique. With somewhat allusive titles, Amy’s paintings are highly narrative, open to nostalgia, interpretation and a host of memories.

Born in London in 1971, she studied BA Printmaking at Glasgow School of Art from 1993–97 before going on to study for a MA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton from 2000 - 2002. Amy's experience in printmaking continues to inform her practice today, from her vast and spacious backdrops, to the patterned motifs that make their way onto her canvases.

Amy has exhibited widely, and in March 2021, was asked by Tate Instagram to paint a livestream portrait session, where she painted a portrait of Cornelia Parker to an audience of 130,000. Other recent notable events include being shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award (2020); being accepted for the 2021 Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize and selected to appear on Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year 2021. In her heat, broadcast in November 2021, her portrait of actor Polly Walker, was selected by the sitter and Amy was shortlisted to the last three artists.

She lives and works in Hove, UK currently dividing her time between painting and her job as Head of Art at a Sixth Form college in Brighton.

SELECTED ARTWORKS