Povey is a prominent English painter and writer. His work surveys human beings with their vulnerability and complexity. He argues that humans are a work in progress and he wants to explore the intimate relationship between emotional experience with cubist perspective. He seeks to join realism and symbolism together. His unique approach to painting is extremely under the influence of the flat perspective of Japanese traditional painting.
I came across Povey’s art accidentally and his work instantly became my source of influence. His paintings with cubist perspective and pure symbolism alongside expressive figures are quite inspiring for my project. In his recent paintings, he usually leaves an unfinished part to emphasize the notion of incompleteness. He argues that humans can smell the fragrance of perfection, but will never be able to meet it face to face.
Using cubist perspective on a canvas is absolutely nothing new, but the way he utilizes colour and perspective to explore the human psyche is so fascinating, characters and figures are suffering to be in such an enclosed space inside the canvas and it seems they are trying to find a way to break out the frame and flee. brush strokes are hard in most cases and recently there are some unfinished parts in the painting.
Povey, Edward. 2021. “OSCILLATION”. Edward Povey’s Personal website.