Stanley Greening
A Lancashire lad who relocated to Devon in the mid 1980s gaining a Fine Art BA(Hons) at Exeter, then on to Newcastle for an MA. After a brief 22 years in London I finally settled in Bedfordshire. Drawing became the backbone to all Stanley’s work following traditional teachings in the life room. What he then procured from sculpture and painting he applied to his drawing; form, texture and layering.
My artistic oeuvre transcends the physical realm, infusing a spiritual dimension into an exploration of death as transformation. My works resonate with a profound metaphysical energy, inviting viewers to contemplate the transcendent aspects of existence. I employ symbolism that echoes spiritual motifs in an attempt to create a visual tapestry that speaks to the interconnectedness of the corporeal and the ethereal, making reference to music, faith, light, and the fundamental archetypes of the soul. I frequently eschew colour in order to focus on the complex relationships between light and darkness, both physically and symbolically, and how it can allow us to peer from our place within the everyday world to a world that might lie beyond it, beneath it, or even within it.
Through the lens of spirituality, my art becomes a conduit for reflection on the timeless cycles of life, death, and rebirth, prompting viewers to delve into the deeper, mystical layers of their own consciousness.
The loss of my son, Louis, in 2020, had a profound impact on my life and art. As I continue to grapple with my own traumatic experience I investigate how, often in great despair, we may reach out into the darkness in an attempt to seek and seize the fading echoes of our loss. And as I dismantle the boundaries between life and death, my work resides somewhere in the space between.
