Irvin Pascal
Can you describe your work in three words?
Cool, calm, calculated.
What got you into the arts? How did you become an artist?
From a young age, I was fascinated by mastering the human figure, and I drew constantly throughout my teens. In my early adulthood, I attended life-drawing classes with the aim of becoming a portrait painter. I initially studied architecture at university, but in my mid-twenties I began exploring abstraction, wanting to develop an individual visual language that could offer a unique voice to the world. I regularly visited museums and galleries to further my understanding of contemporary art and to find inspiration. This journey eventually led me back into education, and I completed an MA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton in 2017.
You work across different media: painting, drawing, sculpture, performance and sound. Can you talk about the relationship between these different aspects of your practice?
Working across different media brings diversity to my creative output. Each medium requires a different use of the hand, and that physicality becomes the common thread running through them all. Whether I’m drawing, painting, sculpting or working with sound, I channel my creative energy through meticulous attention to detail and mark-making. All of these mediums follow the process of traditional art production: drawing leads to painting, which can transform into sculpture, which can then be performed or integrated with sound. There is a strong physicality to all of my work.
Your works are characterised by a rich and vibrant palette, can you tell us about your use of colour and form?
I am drawn to the effect that colour has on the psyche. I like to use colour in a way that mirrors musical composition—where bright colours represent the major scale and more sombre colours represent the minor scale. My colour choices are intuitive; I balance them carefully against one another. Structurally, my compositions are built in sections made up of primary shapes. I take my time finding the right balance between symmetry and asymmetry.
Can you talk about the subjects in your figurative works? Where does your imagery come from?
The subjects in my figurative works often come from memories of individuals who captivated me through their actions or personalities—sometimes strangers and sometimes people I have maintained friendships with over the years. Several works are based on mobile phone photos taken during travels to LA and Jamaica. I never intended for those images to become artworks. I just took them in the moment because I felt the urgency and inspiration to record the imagery in front of me. Today we all feel this immediacy and we have the ability to document our surroundings with a quick tap. I enjoy translating that spontaneity and re-interpreting these images in paint.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
My main source of inspiration is the natural world around me. I spend a lot of time drifting through the Sussex landscape in my car, being immersed in fields of pure greenery in a variety of hues underneath the uninterrupted blue sky of the countryside. Those colours often find their way into my work. Being based near the coast, the sea is another major source of inspiration, especially at night-time. The blackness of the sky above the illuminated seascape inspires the depth of the darker tones I like to use.
What do you hope to capture and convey through your work?
I’m interested in the potentially therapeutic effects of form and composition. I hope my works can have a restorative impact on viewers. I relate the formal arrangement of my works to scenarios that one might experience when moving through life. My abstract pieces in particular convey intellectual ideas about space and colour. I construct them like balanced musical scores, taking the viewer on a journey of highs and lows.
Who are the artists who have inspired you the most?
There are many, but a few stand out: Theaster Gates, for his ability to work across such a wide range of media; Marlene Dumas, for the energy and immediacy of her mark-making; Chris Ofili, for the storytelling quality of his work; Louise Bourgeois, for her profound understanding of the human condition; Jean-Michel Basquiat, for the relationship he draws between poetry and image; and Pablo Picasso, for his innovative approaches to the human figure.
What interested you about joining Canopy Collections?
I first joined Canopy Collections during the pandemic, when they were primarily web-based. At a time when galleries were closed, their online platform offered immediate accessibility for new collectors engaging with my work. I’d always admired the range of artists they represented and felt my work would sit well within their programme. When they expanded into curating physical exhibitions, it deepened the relationship they maintained with their audience and artists.
Do you collect art from other artists? How important is it for you to live with art?
Yes, I’ve bought works by other artists over the years. Living with art enriches everyday life. I believe that meaningful artworks can inspire ideas and have a positive emotional impact on us all.
Any projects in the pipeline?
I’m currently exhibiting in a in a group show at Messums on Cork Street, Mayfair titled The Ground Beneath: Material Memory and the Resilience of Hope. The works on display explore mixed-media collage using materials that speak to land, place and time. I also have works on view at Home House, the members’ club in Marble Arch, as part of Canopy Collections’ curatorial partnership. In the studio, I’m working on several large-scale paintings that will continue into early next year. I’m also planning a series of woodcut printmaking projects for the winter, expanding my exploration of pattern and symbology.