Interview With John Hubbard

This interview was conducted at the Marlborough Fine Arts, 6 Albemarle Street, London W1S, on 6th February 2002 with John Hubbard. The purpose of the interview was to explore John Hubbard's influences and inspirations. Time was limited to one hour so careful preparation was made to ensure the correct questions elicited the responses required, clearly and concisely.

1. Q Your influences include Chinese culture, and those of the area in which you paint. But can I ask what actually inspires you? For example, I feel my inspiration comes from ". The raggedness of the coastline and the waves crashing against pillars emerging from the sea, cliff faces being forever washed, cleaned and changed by the force of the sea." Are there any particular instances where you feel you have been absolutely inspired there and then to paint?

1. A Inspiration comes primarily from two sources:
a) What is actually observed;
b) One's perception or train of thought

The visual stimulus of the scene in front of the artist, which still needs a 'compulsion' to paint it. This is a connection with Monet - both John Hubbard and Monet felt that all inner feelings need a 'catalyst' - something which draws the experience of what is seen together.

Drawing before painting is very important; for example, Monet struggled with a particular place - not in a literal sense but in an ephemeral one; which means that the struggle was one of thought - not an actual physical difficulty.

So, inspiration comes from many different sources, and is therefore difficult to assess. In each case, one's inspiration can be drawn from many different areas - from the metaphysical, to the concrete. Essentially, inspiration is difficult to pin down - it is different in each case.

2. Q 1) Leading from that, can you explain how 'close' you get to your subject? Does that tend to be in all cases? I find that I immerse myself in the situation, in the imagery of the vista presented to me. Sometimes I find that I can become so involved with the subject, to the exclusion of all else around me.

2) In addition, do you feel that your mind works on the project even if you are not physically engaged on it?

2. A1 One's immersion in the work in progress tends to be total - to the exclusion often of all else around, such as social intercourse, the physical surroundings. Concentration is on only the subject to be considered. For example, traditionally, Chinese artists would work inside - in their studio. Once filled with inspiration, they would then leave the studio and work at the scene. Hence memory is a very important intermediary for the subject - after seeing and sketching the subject briefly, the memory holds the moment and the feelings of the subject.

For example, a friend of John Hubbard worked, painting on Dartmoor, in violent and dramatic weather. He tried to draw whilst the rain came down, in order to capture the moment. However, the rain washed away much of the drawing. the artist was left with little to show - had he but made preliminary sketches, and then worked later on the canvas, his work would have survived and been available for the observer.

Therefore, immediacy is not a good thing - it is memory which allows the digestion of what is seen, a consideration of it, and questioning of the subject and what it means to the artist.

2. A2 One's mind is constantly engaged on the work in progress. John Hubbard gave the example of what someone had written - that the artist always knew what he was to produce. But that may be thought to be the case - but is not. Nothing is done the same way twice, and the artist cannot know how a work will develop. There are no benchmarks, steps to take along the route to a finished work. There is an organic progression - and the subconscious working is very important. Even if the artist does not accept the fact of the sensitivity of the subconscious, the artist must be aware that it is always working.

3. Q To what extent is Chinese art an influence on your work, given your affinity towards Mark Tobey and Morris Graves?

3. A John Hubbard's influence may be Chinese (for example an early triptych had no obvious connection to Chinese art but was in fact, influenced by Chinese artists, in that the triptych was exactly that - a triptych. the series of pictures gave the impression of 'light' and 'floating', but was not overtly Chinese-influenced), but such an influence - any influence - can be a major problem. It is important to establish one's own individual style, and not be derivative in one's work. [John Hubbard stated that he had no affinity towards the two people mentioned, in spite
of the writings about such an affinity.]

4. Q Sometimes I feel that a subject may be too strong for me to capture. It can happen that I begin a painting but cannot show the essence of the scene. Do you find that each and every subject you paint must absorb you totally? Even if I am absorbed, the subject can be overwhelming. Do you think that over time every subject can be captured successfully?

*Cezanne writes: "...Now being old, nearly seventy years, the sensations of colour, which give light, are for me the reasons for the abstractions that do not allow me to cover the canvas entirely," Yet he held out hope that "nature, if consulted, gives us the means of attaining this end."1 1 Mary Tompkins Lewis, Cezanne [Phaidon, 2000]

4. A Can a subject be overwhelming? Essentially, all subjects are overwhelming. But an artist can only try to represent a scene as he sees and interprets it. There will always be an area of the scene which captures the eye and the imagination - but that area can change frequently in the course of working on one scene. Sometimes the painting has to come to an end, because nothing else can be done to complete the work.

[Supplementary question: using photographs as stimuli]
John Hubbard is of the opinion that photographs are not useful when trying to use them as 'memory' for painting. The artist thinks he will remember the moment and what it meant at the time, but in truth, that is not the case, at least if aided by the photograph. The photograph seizes just one moment in time, and that can never encompass the feeling of the moment. The photograph therefore distort real space - it can never truly and accurately capture anything more than a flat, unfeeling image of the scene.

A sketch, or memory alone, is much more effective. Combined, they provide a representation which has the feeling and emotion of the moment of the scene. Essentially, a photograph is static - not linear (progressing though time, altering the perception with the passage of time).

5. Q Criticism is often levelled at impressionistic painters that their work is too abstract to mean 'anything'. Do you think that the impressionistic movement automatically means that the interpretation of such art should evoke an entirely personal and subjective response? Do you think that whatever the response, even if not what you hoped, the response is valid because the work has forced some reaction in the observer?

5. A Art and abstraction.
All artists must accept that the interpretation given by any observer is valid. What is evoked in the observer is entirely subjective, nothing more, nothing less.

A good painting always has meaning intrinsically - it is not of something, it is something.This means that it is an end in itself. A finished, although not always happily, article.

The observer sees and interprets based upon his own life experience and memory. If a response is evoked, then that is all that is necessary. But better than that, if a connection is made where the observer sees a little of what the meaning is for the artist, then the work has been successful in that degree. But to evoke any response, however subjective, means that a work is successful.

For example, in the 1960's, John Hubbard painted a land-sea-sky image tilted through 90°. What he found observers trying to do was alter that perception by turning their heads on the side to look.

It is the challenge of artists to alter the perception of the observer.

People want to see conventionality. For example, if a painting is entitled "St Ives" then people expect to see the familiarity of the place. Not an abstract work - they will look for the familiar, and not finding it will perhaps dismiss the work as meaningless.

The keys to landscape painting are 'light' and 'aliveness'.

Supplementary question As I know you [are] often drawing on [a] sketchbook, how can you express [a] large size canvas (big) from [a] sketchbook (small)?

A Easily! Small drawings [maybe 45mm2] are obviously seen as small but are in fact felt as big. They are good, small drawings, because they are inadequate - this allows the memory and feelings to expand through what the small drawings remind the artist of.