Richard Ansett is a photographer who is gaining much acclaim in the international art scene. He has artwork on display at the National Portrait Gallery and has displayed at many high profile exhibitions. Lets get to know Richard Ansett a bit better:
1. Background of yourself/Biography of yourself up until present day
I was born in 1966, adopted into a middle class familly in south England. I have no knowledge of my genetic familly history. I went to KIAD breifly and since then i have worked comercially as a photographer in London which finances my personal projects.
2. Explain your style of art
We are a product of our environment, our dress, behaviour and body language. Our personality is shaped by the social and political landscape we inhabit and we wear the scars of our life experience clearly on view. Equally we attempt to influence the environment around us in an attempt to justify and substantiate our place in the world.
How we deal with our emotions defines us as individuals and creates our complex and unique visual personality.
My work whilst apparently social realistic is in fact not strictly truthful. They are creations at a moment of time; the subjects are not represented fairly. They’re stories are irrelevant; this is not documentary, they are exploited to communicate my own views and to discuss a bigger picture.
The portrait process is not democratic process; whilst there is obvious complicity, it is not collaboration.
The extreme emotions within us are manifest in a momentary glimpse of the lives of others. We are fascinated by examples of the extremities of others’ lives but this is merely an exploration of the limits of ourselves.
