About
In his medium to large-scale portrait and figurative paintings, Henry Blond highlights the intricate complexities present in the ordinary moments of life, reimagining and placing them firmly center stage. Through decontextualization of the figure, he explores a repositioning of narrative and offers a uniquely fresh perspective on those unrehearsed passages of daily human experience.
Born in 1974 in Liverpool, England, Blond’s diversely creative background has taken him on a journey through music, graphic design and the visual arts. He earned a BA Hons degree in Jazz Studies from the City of Leeds College of Music and worked as a professional musician for over 15 years. Following a decade running his own graphic design business, he now focuses on a full-time career in painting.
With his varied creative training, Blond successfully manages to integrate these artistic disciplines into his painting. His rhythmic brushwork, strong compositional sense and dynamic color range all intertwine to create a powerful, expressive and arresting style.
Henry Blond is a direct painter, working in the ‘alla prima’ style of paint application, favoring a spontaneous and energetic look to his finished work. His passages of semi-realism contrast with loose interpretation, allowing form to strongly emerge from a stark setting to skillfully engage the viewer’s eye.
Built from a textured surface, the subject is sculpted with a mosaic of broad brushstrokes and energetic lines. The image is captured between the lines of what is rendered and what is implied, reflecting not mere representations of people but rather a journey of self-expression that deeply explores the raw honesty and emotional essence of the human condition.
As the human subject is the primary source of Blond’s inspiration, subjectivity is found in the subtle details – a certain tilt of the head, a shifting of weight, or an inquisitively fixed stare. Blond moves to capture the intricacies of these special moments and he strives to give them the time, space and stage that they fully deserve.