Seb West is a Cornish artist who has spent over 30 years producing vivid, contemporary paintings of the Cornish landscape from his own unique perspective. Initially recognised for his painted linocut reliefs, Seb has since diversified across a wide range of media and styles and his work is constantly evolving. Since 2012 he has been creating mainly abstract and semi-abstract works which incorporate heavy textures and a variety of patinas including metallic paints and metal leaf.
Seb was born in St. Ives in 1968, and his diverse, fresh and imaginative style stems from a love and intimate knowledge of his hometown, his Cornish heritage and a great love for the local countryside and sea. The rugged Cornish landscape and near Mediterranean light had a profound effect on him as a boy, and later would provide a lasting source of inspiration for his work.
On leaving school Seb was accepted at Falmouth School of Art where he studied graphic design and illustration. It was here that he first started to experiment with different media. On leaving college he was chosen by the Association of Illustrators as one of the top 50 graduates in the country to show work at the New Blood exhibition off Tottenham Court Road.
Seb has had numerous exhibitions and commercial commissions from clients such as P&O Ferries, Thorn~EMI, ‘19’ magazine, Lloyds Bank, the Cornwall Tourist Board and CATA (Cornwall Association of Tourist Attractions.) He has also had his work featured in several magazine articles including Vogue.
Seb’s other great passion is music. Over the years he has sung and played guitar and keyboards in numerous bands from funk to 80s synth pop.
In a recent body of work Seb used varying styles of music as his inspiration, creating vibrant abstract pieces while trying to capture the free forms, urgency and energy of the music. Despite this love of music he has always returned to his main inspration - the Cornish landscape.
"I love the places where man has barely made a mark or where nature has reclaimed the terrain.
I’m interested in the striations running through the rock, coincidence of line, the connectedness of things. Not just what you can see in front of you but what lies beneath and just beyond.
I attempt to make sense of the soaring cliffs, wind blasted moors and bizarre rock formations by breaking the scene down into areas of colour, texture and patina to find an underlying geometry.
My work owes more to design and sculpture than it does traditional landscape painting. My goal is to create a sense of the otherworldly nature of this amazing landscape."
Linocuts
Between 1992 and 2013 I mainly produced painted linocut reliefs. These were very popular and even featured on the cover of local magazines and posters promoting St. Ives and the whole of Cornwall, but after over 20 years I decided to stop completely. The reasons for this were varied:
I started to develop repetitive strain in my shoulder and elbow from the constant pressure required.
The technique was very limiting. I struggled with organic shapes like clouds and trees, so was limited to buildings, boats and harbour scenes.
My work became synonymous with St. Ives and it seemed everyone wanted a linocut of St. Ives harbour or Porthmeor beach. After years of producing variations on a theme I lost all love for painting and nearly stopped completely. My wife once joked (I hope) that if I did one more linocut she would leave me as I was becoming so miserable.
So, I made the decision to stop using lino and take my work in other directions. After years of trying and inventing new techniques I started to combine them into what has now become my current body of work. There are even elements of my old linocuts in there and I have recently rediscovered my love of painting St. Ives scenes. However I won’t be making any more linocuts.
Every week I get asked several times if I would make ‘just one more’ linocut or if I have any old ones I would be willing to sell. The answer to both of these questions is sorry, but no.