ANDREW RATCLIFFE
Artist's Statement
I am a figurative painter. My main preoccupation is representing the human figure, ranging from life painting to an in depth analysis of an individual. I work from life. The process and the end product are of equal importance. I try to record what I see accurately. Although I work in a very controlled way, the discrepancies between what I perceive and what ends up on the canvas, due to inaccuracy, lack of control, or the limitations inherent in the chosen medium, result in a form of expressionism.
CV
Andrew Ratcliffe is a figurative painter based in Cumbria, UK. He was born in Colne, Lancashire in 1948, and studied at Burnley and Canterbury Colleges of Art. After teaching at The Manchester Grammar School, he became a full-time painter in 1980.
He has exhibited extensively in Britain and abroad, featuring several times in The John Moores, The National Portrait Gallery and The Irwin Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
Andrew has worked as artist in residence in schools, colleges, galleries, libraries and workplaces.
He combines painting with being a musician, and has worked on numerous combined arts projects with dancers, musicians and performing artists. He plays in the Lancaster based band, Turnstone.
He undertakes commissioned work and is represented in The Royal Collection Windsor, The National Portrait Gallery, National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, Trinity College Cambridge, University of Liverpool, Loughborough University, Durham University, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, House of Commons, Lincoln's Inn, private collection of The Prince of Wales and private collections in the UK, Australia and USA. Over the years Andrew has painted a considerable number of portraits. Sitters include HRH The Prince of Wales, Lord Kinnock, Betty Boothroyd, Sir Ken Dodd, Lord King and Elizabeth Butler-Sloss.