In a special series, we asked artists associated with the RWA about how the COVID-19 lockdown has affected their life and work. The next artist is Malcolm Ashman…
“…I’m taking each day as it comes, making work and focussing on the physical and mental well being of those I love. I think that’s enough for now.”
“Before the lockdown I’d been making post cards for the RWA Secret Postcard auction. Having recently bought a large stack of paper I carried on making more small works. As the days contracted into a series of simple routines, the intimate scale of these pieces somehow fitted the mood.
“I’d been drawing the weather and as the rain dried up I made my own. Alongside these miniature landscapes I’m working on a series of larger drawings loosely based on characters from the Tempest. The landscape and the figure are colliding in the storm.
“I’ve always been able to make work in one form or another whatever’s happening in my life. With plans for exhibitions on hold it’s been a good time for reflection and reassessment.
“As for the future, it’s as uncertain as it’s always been. I’m taking each day as it comes, making work and focussing on the physical and mental well being of those I love. I think that’s enough for now.”
About the artist
Malcolm is a multi-disciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and textiles. Most recently he co-curated, with Stephen Jacobson RWA, the exhibition ‘Body and Soul’ at the RWA.
He is an academician at the Royal West of England Academy, elected 2016, a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) and the Bath Society of Artists.
Artist statement: ‘I paint the landscape and I draw the figure. Last year I made small sewn sculptures. I’ve always embraced new ways of working, I’m restless but with purpose. Everything I make is connected, each thread running parallel, informing the others, always pushing forward.”
Meet the Artist: Malcolm Ashman RWA
Concept and interview by Laurel Smart
The Floating Circle 