David Tress

David Tress is a British artist that was born in 1955 Wembley, northwest London. He studied at Harrow College of Art before graduating in Fine Arts from Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham. In 1976 he then moved to Pembrokeshire where he has lived ever since.

While he was at Trent, he became involved with experiments in conceptual and performance art, but later came to question the assumptions of modernism. Deciding that he had reached the limit of what he could achieve with realism alone, he instead developed an aggressively expressionist style that involves physically scraping or cutting the painted surface and then repairing it, building up layer upon layer as if to mimic the seasonal sequence of decay and regrowth.

As many artist would, he first starts with a drawing or sketch of his subject. This is normally when he is visiting the landscapes he wishes to paint. While walking in the countryside David Tress like to keep an open mind of what he wants to draw. This helps him clearly see the landscape and not get distracted by searching for his ideas of what he wants to draw. Often he revisits the same landscapes he has already painted and redraws them. He talks about how even when he returns to the same place that he has drawn before, there are still differences that occur, be it the time of year, weather, light, or just noticing something that he missed the last time. This makes each drawing different from the last.

After David Tress as completed his sketches, he then returns to his studio. Sometime days, or weeks later, he then looks at his drawings to start the painting. The painting is not just a likeness of the landscape, but rather captures what David Tress had done, felt and seen on that day. He tries to capture the emotional memories of the landscape, as well as the view that he has seen. His paintings develop slowly with some paintings having gaps of days, weeks, or sometimes months of no progress.

In each of his paintings David Tress likes to take risks with his work, trying out different ways of layering paint onto the cavers and going with his instinct. This way he feels that his decisions are made more with the subconscious, and that can make the painting more interesting and interactive instead of a flat technically accurate one.

With his use of layering canvas and paint, gradually it gives his work a rich texture that works well. This adds to the landscape mimicking trees, grass, mountains and even weather like fog or rain, as he has painted over it. David Tress seems to use these textures to his advantage with each layer adding its own detail and character. With the thick layering of paint it gives the landscapes a vibrant dramatic feel, while still having an abstract look to them.