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 had an interest in learning how to master drawing the human figure, which I continued practicing until my late teens. In my early adult life, I started attending life drawing classes with the aim of becoming a portrait painter. Initially I studied architecture at university but in my mid-twenties, I started exploring abstraction as I wanted to develop an individual visual language that could offer a unique voice to the world. I regularly visited many museums and galleries to further my understanding of what it meant to be a contemporary artist and find inspiration. led me back into education and I graduated with a MA in Fine Art from 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 work?
I like to work across different media as it enables more diversity to my creative output. I feel that all these mediums really bounce off each other as they all require a different use of the hand, which becomes the common ground between them. Through each medium, I can express my creative energies through meticulous attention to detail and mark-making. All these mediums follow the process of traditional art production in the sense that in the beginning there is drawing, which leads to painting which, transforms into sculpture, which can be involved in a performed and accepts the reverberance of sound. There is a physically 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 way that references the way that music is composed—where bright colours represent the major scale and more sombre colours represent the minor scale. I intuitively select colours and balance them against each other. My compositions are constructed in sections that are comprised of primary shapes. I take my time to find 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 have come from memories of individuals who captivated me through their actions and personalities. Sometimes strangers and sometimes people I have maintained friendships with over the years. A selection of my figurative works were drawn from mobile phone pictures that I took during my travels to LA and Jamaica. I had no intention of translating the photos into paintings or drawings. I just took them in the moment because I felt the urgency and inspiration to record the imagery in front of me. It is how a lot of us function today; in the everyday we have the ability to capture images of sceneries and friends with the touch of a button on our phones. I love this immediacy and like to evoke this in the mark making I use when representing 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. These colours of the landscape often find their way into my work. Being based near the coast, the sea is another major source of inspiration for me, especially at night-time. The blackness of the sky above the illuminated seascape inspires the depth of the deep tones I like to use.

What do you hope to capture and convey through your work?
I am interested in the potentially therapeutic effects of form and composition and I hope that my works can have a restorative effect on the viewer. I relate the formal arrangement of my works to scenarios that one might experience when moving through life. My abstract works in particular convey intellectual ideas about space and colour—I construct these works as if they are balanced musical scores, taking the viewer on a journey of highs and lows.

Who are the artists who have inspired you the most?
There is a vast list of artists that have inspired me, but to name a few I’d say Theaster Gates for his ability to work across such a wide array of media. Marlene Dumas for the energy she creates in her paintings and works on paper – I love the immediacy and flow of her mark-making. Chris Ofili for the story telling quality of his work – I feel that his pieces really take you on a journey through place and time. Louise Bourgeois for her articulate interpretation of the human condition through her biomorphic structures and confessional works on paper. Jean-Michel Basquiat for how he relates poetry and word to his expressive imagery. And finally, Pablo Picasso for his innovative approach to representing the human figure. 

What interested you about joining Canopy Collections?
Initially, when I joined Canopy during the pandemic, they were predominately web-based, which was a necessary way to keep contemporary art in circulation at a time when visiting galleries was impossible. I appreciated the instant accessibility that was available to new collectors of my work through Canopy’s online collections. I was always interested in the range of artists that Canopy Collections worked with and felt that my work could function well within their programme. When they began curating physical shows, it really elevated the interaction they maintained with their clients.

Do you collect art from other artists? How important is it for you to live with art?
I’ve bought a selection of works from other artists over the years. I feel that living with art enhances everyday life and I believe that living with meaningful art can inspire ideas and create positive effects 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’. My works on display demonstrate my investigation into mixed media collage using materials that speak about land, place and time. I also have a selection of works on display at Home House, the members club in Marble Arch, as part of the Canopy Collections curatorial partnership there. In the studio I’m currently working on a few large-scale pieces that I’ve been painting for some months now. My plan is to see this project through to the early part of next year. I’m also planning towards some woodcut printmaking projects that I’ll be starting in the winter season. I am deepening my exploration of patterns and symbology in that area of my practice.