JOEL BIRD STUDIO ART

STUDIO Much of my work is produced from my purpose built Studio in London. It is important that my art should be created around nature and should reflect how I view the world. For this reason the studio has a green roof, it collects rainwater and the internal lighting is powered by solar power. In the winter I heat it with a small wood burner from which I boil water and heat food.

LOCATION Alot of my work recently began its life on location. Whether in the city or the countryside, it is important to be a part of the environment you are painting, as humans we want to be 'in the world', not separated from it. Working in the field like this, gets you closer to the subject, you become efficient, you to see things faster and it helps you understand your technique. I sketch individual elements, it helps me understand what is happening, the world is interconnected and I want to express this.

PRIVATE COMMISSIONS I especially enjoy private comissions with a personal message, the skill of an artist is not limited to their technique, part of the proccess is understanding a client and helping them to express something that is within which they cannot sometimes express fully for themselves. At times the work is about design or aesthetics but sometimes a comission can be deeply personal, either way, I enjoy talking through this proccess and thinking about it, trying to find an answer, a doorway to the external world.

FASHION I've recently been commissioned to do a number of fashion shoot backdrops, usually in NYC. Part of the job is to understand the concept behind the shoot there are alot of elements that have to come together including clothes, make up and the right model. This shoot was by Emily Bleasdale. http://www.emilybleasdale.com.

MUSIC & BOOKS Other commericial artwork I have been involved in has been book illustration and CD design. It issometimes nice to do artistic work for a specifc purpose, giving imagination boundaries can bring a different creativity to the surface and in this way the artist learns something about their art. The book Illustration was a series of paintings for a book called Eto the Spaceman. The book is a modern philosophical sage aimed at both children and adults. I wanted to express interconnection through simple images. The CD design was for band Jubjub, released through Plastic Records, distributed by Pinnacle. (see right)

Joel Bird Art hangs in private and public collections across America, Europe & Japan. There are far too many comissions to show, but to view or buy High Quality Digital Prints of some Joel Bird's private comission work go to JOEL BIRD SHOP> or you can of course comission your own work by contacting me: joelbird@joelbird.com