Francis West was born in 1936 in a remote fishing community on the Moray Firth in Scotland, where he spent his formative years. After National Service, he moved to London to study at the Chelsea School of Art (1957-1959). West mounted his first solo show in 1973, at the Hamet Gallery on Cork Street and in 1981 his work was included in the Arts Council’s Hayward Annual. West based himself in Paris during the 90s and made two working trips to America, which marked the beginning of the ‘bandit series’.
Basic to all of West’s work, whether in drawing, pastel or painting, are figurative forms which have been plunged into states of metamorphosis. Beings, once originating in myth, literature or life experience, flow into and out of marks on canvas and paper. They refuse to settle or fix themselves into received representations or familiar dramatic scenarios.
His work is included in public collections, including the British Museum, Pallant House Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as numerous private collections.
Francis lives and works in London and Paris.
Basic to all of West’s work, whether in drawing, pastel or painting, are figurative forms which have been plunged into states of metamorphosis. Beings, once originating in myth, literature or life experience, flow into and out of marks on canvas and paper. They refuse to settle or fix themselves into received representations or familiar dramatic scenarios.
His work is included in public collections, including the British Museum, Pallant House Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as numerous private collections.
Francis lives and works in London and Paris.
The Piper Gallery 2012