NEIL BOUSFIELD

North House Gallery is delighted to present Neil Bousfield’s skilful, multilayered reduction prints of the landscape around his adopted home of Norfolk and the first retrospective of the vast body of his earlier work, much of it darkly humorous, which shows the development of his skill.

"This corner of Norfolk has a rich historical narrative; this is a place like no other where land meets sea, ever changing and under threat. Coastal erosion and rising sea levels mean this place is on the edge and in a state of flux. Cultural and artistic idioms wax and wane but here the tide is coming and I intend to engage with and record this fragile place ..."

Originally from Middlesbrough, Neil took his BA in Animation from University College for the Creative Arts, followed by an MSc in 3D Computer Graphics from Teesside University. After a spell as a freelance animator and then creative artist in the games industry, he gained his MA in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from the University of the West of England and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice from the University of the Arts, London. He teaches Illustration at Norwich University of the Arts and continues his printmaking practice daily. In 2009 he was elected a member of the Society of Wood Engravers and in 2014 a member of the Society of Painter Printmakers (RE).

"Although contexts and thinking change, drawing, narrative and relief engraving have remained steadfast within my personal practice, thinking and outcomes. There are the obvious aesthetic concerns of colour, texture, mark making and pattern manipulated through craft based skill sets, using drawing as a way of collecting and relating to the world around me as the original source material for engraving. But the true driver of my practice is content, expressed through sequence to generate meaning within a personal context. Once images come together stories can be told, narratives are formed and the investigative nature of the human condition seeks to understand, rationalise and make sense of the world around us through what the practitioner presents for us to read. This basic concept remains constant within my practice and has led to the output of animated films, books, collections of prints and themed series or sequences of prints. Each “container”, whether book, film or portfolio, allows for the containment of ideas, as once ideas are contained they are focused and become about something. This fascinates me and allows me to transcend concerns based around media, subject, aesthetic, skills and craft and focus on content whether social narrative or investigative observation." Neil Bousfield.