Silas' art, an introduction
My preferred form of artistic expression is painting but I also enjoy creating the occasional lino-cut print or pastel. My work is generally semi-abstract as I enjoy the ambiguous boundary between realism and pure abstraction. I’m inspired by many things, landscape, plants, architecture, tools, machinery and even elements of the celestial realm. I am influenced by many artists, especially Modernists of the early and mid-20th century. Important people that certainly strike a chord with me are Ian Fairweather, Jeffrey Smart, William de Morgan and last, but not least, my late-father Stanley Clifford-Smith.
I follow the dictum of William Morris and the 19th century Arts and Crafts Movement, that we need to turn our backs on objects made by machines and return to those made by people. Although not a complete Luddite, I’m distrustful of computer technology encroaching into the world of art. This doesn’t mean we have to only do pre-industrial art but we should strive to return to our own skills and physical abilities as artists. Put simply, a return to an appreciation of handmade objects. This is expressed in my art as a love of the freely drawn line, after all, there are no straight lines in nature.
As the son of two artists I grew up in the family-run art centre in England. My art training was varied and intermittent and included ceramic tuition at Braintree College in Essex (a fellow student was the Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry) and later a Foundation year at the respected Sir John Cass School of Art in London. After moving to Australia in the 1980s I put my art career on hold to concentrate on making a living as a Horticulturist and being a dad. Since 2011 I have returned to art making after discovering the joys of painting and printmaking.
I have exhibited my work in several shows in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, and look forward to new exhibitions, projects and collaborations in the future. A five-page illustrated profile of my work was published in the Summer 2015 issue of OZ ARTS magazine. As well as my hands-on art making, I also have a keen interest in the history of art and have written widely on art and artists both in Australia and Britain. I have also written two art books: Percy Lindsay: artist and bohemian (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2011), and a biography of my parents: Under Moonlight: a portrait of Great Bardfield artists Stanley Clifford-Smith and Joan Glass (self-published, 2016).
Art work photos on this site by Peter Collie and Silas Clifford-Smith
I follow the dictum of William Morris and the 19th century Arts and Crafts Movement, that we need to turn our backs on objects made by machines and return to those made by people. Although not a complete Luddite, I’m distrustful of computer technology encroaching into the world of art. This doesn’t mean we have to only do pre-industrial art but we should strive to return to our own skills and physical abilities as artists. Put simply, a return to an appreciation of handmade objects. This is expressed in my art as a love of the freely drawn line, after all, there are no straight lines in nature.
As the son of two artists I grew up in the family-run art centre in England. My art training was varied and intermittent and included ceramic tuition at Braintree College in Essex (a fellow student was the Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry) and later a Foundation year at the respected Sir John Cass School of Art in London. After moving to Australia in the 1980s I put my art career on hold to concentrate on making a living as a Horticulturist and being a dad. Since 2011 I have returned to art making after discovering the joys of painting and printmaking.
I have exhibited my work in several shows in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, and look forward to new exhibitions, projects and collaborations in the future. A five-page illustrated profile of my work was published in the Summer 2015 issue of OZ ARTS magazine. As well as my hands-on art making, I also have a keen interest in the history of art and have written widely on art and artists both in Australia and Britain. I have also written two art books: Percy Lindsay: artist and bohemian (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2011), and a biography of my parents: Under Moonlight: a portrait of Great Bardfield artists Stanley Clifford-Smith and Joan Glass (self-published, 2016).
Art work photos on this site by Peter Collie and Silas Clifford-Smith