Featured Artist: Peter Yuill
When we first came across Peter Yuill's work, we thought it was really cool looking, like an adult version of spirograph doodles. Remember those? But to be truthful, we really didn't know what we were looking at. It was only when we dug deeper into his work that we realized how amazing and complex his process is. Peter was kind enough to take some time to discuss his work with us and how the color black impacts his art and life.
B: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your history and what you do?
P: My name is Peter Yuill, I'm an artist based in Hong Kong. I'm originally from a small city outside of Toronto, Canada but moved here about 8 years ago. I work mostly with ink on paper, but I also do the occasional large scale mural.
B: Your work process is amazing. To many people's surprise, it's all done by hand. Please give us some detail about how you go about creating a piece.
P: I am very process oriented, and a bit of a control freak so I need to be intimately involved in every aspect of the work that I make. To start, I work through several loose rough drawings, developing composing, balance, weight, scale and feel of each piece, usually mixing and matching different roughs together until I find something that feels right. I love the prep work, I love the planning, I love the meticulous measuring and plotting of the pieces in pencil before any of the ink touches the paper, so I spend a lot of time investing in this process. Also because of ink's inherent permanence, it's very important to make sure everything is correct before starting in because there is no way to erase or paint over any errors later on. The line work is all done with ink pens, and the flat black shapes are painted with brush. I prefer to use ink ovet paint as ink is so rich and pure. It has a depth that I lose myself in, it's intoxicating.
B: It seems very zen. Almost like the finished product is secondary to the actual process itself. We know a lot of your artwork is almost all black. Why do you think working with black or neutral tones is appealing to you?
P: I am extremely visually attracted to black and white, it's harsh contrast, and it's purity. My visual aesthetic is dominated by such extremes. I don't feel that colour would improve what I do, and rather, would actually be more of a distraction. Working with colour requires soft, delicate and very subtle visuals that I struggle with. I love to look at it, I love people that are masters of colour work, but I am compelled to work with black from within.
B: Do you think working with just black hinders your creativity all all?
P: Absolutely not, if anything I feel it allows me to be more open. It frees my mind to focus more on form, motion, depth, and tension without being distracted by colour. And I find pure black and white to be so beautiful that it pushes me to go further.
B: You took the words right out of our mouths Peter. Does black play a big role in any other facets of your life? Clothing, home decor, other art?
P: Yes definitely, I feel most comfortable dressed in black, my standard go to clothing is all black and white. Though, to be honest, most of my favourite artists use huge amount of rich, intensely vibrant and explosive colours, I think one of the things I love about that is being able to appreciate it as an outsider. I love art and creativity in all its forms, I am only bound to what I find beautiful. For me, it's more mood and feeling that I'm attracted to, deep feeling, noir shots of cigarette smoke in the dark, neon signs against the night streets, these are what appeal to me.
B: Are there any future projects of yours we should be looking forward to?
P: I am having a large solo exhibition in Hong Kong opening April 20th which is what I'm primarily focused on right now. I will be showing a lot of my ink paintings, some collaborative video work and large scale painting as well.
B: That's exciting man! Congratulations with all your success so far, we hope it continues, and thank you again for taking the time to speak with us.
P: Thank you for having me and thank you to everyone who has supported me and my work.
If you're in Hong Kong on April 20th check out Peter's exhibition. If you're unlucky like us, you'll just have to check out his website and buy one of his prints.
More Peter Yuill HERE
