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Ed Ashton
Degree: BA (Hons) Fine Art
University: University of Wales College, Cardiff
Graduation Year: 2006
Ashton’s paintings are reminiscent of old encyclopedia illustrations but raise very contemporary questions about the way the media shapes our ways of seeing. Ashton plays with juxtaposition of content, sometimes referencing fashion and war imagery simultaneously, and interrogates our intensively mediated experience of the world, asking if the apparent contrast is so marked after all.
“My work starts from the collecting of found imagery taken from magazine and newspaper cuttings, photos and old postcards. I then make collages which create unique settings, situations and juxtapositions that reference a range of themes from Romanticism and Pop Art to current affairs. I place figures within dramatic settings, and then base my original paintings on these collages.
My work is largely influenced by German painting; from Caspar David Friedrich to modern day artists Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer and Martin Kippenberger. I hope that my paintings challenge the viewer with their combination of satirical, contemporary and playful images.”
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Selected Group Exhibitions
2010, 6x6x2010, Rochester Contemporary Art, New York
2010, Dare to Joust Gallery, Barnes, London
2010, Postcards from the Edge, ZieherSmith, New York
2009, Art for Amnesty, The Watershed, Bristol
2008, Axis Future 50, PSL Gallery, Leeds
2008, A Better Life Appeal, Washington Gallery, Penarth, Cardiff
2008, Long Established Mediums Harmonize with New Media, Lloyd Gill Gallery, Weston-Super-Mare