The art of unsuitable thoughts, 2023
William Oxer F.R.S.A.

Artist Statement:

A passionate artist driven by traditional ideas of how beauty should be represented, William formed the intellectual basis to his work under the tutelage of Professor Regius Peter Davidson of Oxford University.

William travelled widely through Europe with Peter and his wife, Professor Jane Stevenson, effectively being given a Grand Tour as a fair swap for his driving skills. After graduating, William was offered a place at the Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture but was advised by them to take the position of assistant to Alec Cobbe, artist, restorer and collector.

Living in at Hatchlands Park, Surrey where The Cobbe Collection is based, William was to assist in various projects including an exhibition for the Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace and large-scale designs for interiors in historic houses such as Goodwood House, Petworth House and Hatchlands Park. He lived at the latter for approximately eight months back in 1996, working with restorer and interiors expert, Alec Cobbe.

Over the past 25 years, this talented 44-year-old, originally from Dorset, has undertaken regular portrait commissions for private clients and produced artworks for exhibitions and collectors across the globe. Other achievements of note include period decoration and exhibition design in places such as Christie's and the Building of Bath Museum, also known as The Museum of Bath Architecture.

Professor Sir Roger Scruton, a renowned writer and philosopher who made a television documentary in 2009 entitled Why Beauty Matters, said of him: “William Oxer is not merely a painter; he is a distinctive sensibility, with a poetic vision he explores in many media. His art is affirmative, evocative and forgiving and offers us, in short, a return to the true and serious tradition."

Discussing his chosen angle as an artist, William continued: “I am perhaps something of an old soul. My works are restful and somehow quiet, demure, elegaic. I enjoy the evenings of autumn and winter by the fire, painting smaller, more intimate and reflective works. Perhaps this is a distant feeling of past roots of the north."

Last year William was approached by the Royal Society of Arts to be made a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), an award granted to individuals that the RSA judges to have made outstanding achievements related to the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.

William is exhibiting at 54 The Gallery, Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London this year, 30 April-6 May.

Education:

English and European Literature B.A. (Hons) University of Warwick

Awards & Distinctions:

Awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts

Exhibitions:

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

South Gate Gallery - Exeter

The Risborough Gallery, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire.

PRESS

Cosmopolitan Magazine - Artist Gallery November 2014

Roco Interior Design Magazine - Interview Feature September 2014

Saatchi Art Magazine - Interview Feature November 2013

PAST EXHIBITIONS

Gallery In The Square - Usk

Tetbury Art Gallery - Spencer House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire

Buy Art Fair - Manchester

Haddon Gallery - Torquay

Papillon - Edinburgh

The Museum - Farnham, Dorset

Shaftesbury Arts Centre - Shaftesbury

The James Gallery - Budleigh Salterton

The Building of Bath Museum - Bath

Christies - St James', London

Trafalgar Park - Salisbury

Poole Library - Poole, Dorset

Serenata - Purbeck, Dorset

Artistic Influences:

William Oxer has painted since a child. He began working professionally as an artist at 18, producing commissioned portraits and historic interior designs. Part of his career involved working in historic interiors; after being given a place without interview at the Prince Of Wales Institute of Architecture, he took up the role of Assistant to Alec Cobbe, artist, at Hatchlands Park. This was a complex role, from being cook, driver and P.A. to Alert and various dignitaries, to painting schemes for projects at Harewood House, Goodwood and Buckingham Palace.

Throughout this time William always painted, focusing on traditional artwork, undertaking portrait commissions and building a following of collectors around the world. In an interview for Zatista, William talks about his personal relationship with painting, his inspiration and his aspirations as an artist.

What is your first memory as an artist?

For my sixth birthday my parents bought me lots of beautiful coloured inks and a proper old-fashioned drawing pen. My family had a caravan at the bottom of the garden. There was a lovely old table in there, and I used to sit against these felt-filled cushion backs, happily on my own, drawing.

What drew you to focus on a career in painting?

Despite a potentially glowing C.V., there had been many times in my life where I had taken jobs to enable me to paint and do what I feel is my purpose in this life I'd been in various jobs that had served such purposes, but which did nothing to further my own. Life trends to throw both good and bad, and I remember thinking, 'What is it that I'm actually good at, that I can concentrate on fully to enjoy an existence that will pay enough to keep me fed and housed?' It all came back to painting.

I feel it's an innate gift that I've been given, something that just comes through me - although learning, focus and hard work is all part of it. . I find myself completely in another world when I'm painting - it's magical.

How would you describe your artworks?

In the last few years I've been focusing on classical portraiture and nudes. I like things with traditional beauty. Roger Scruton who sadly died a couple of years ago, was a great friend and mentor and we shared may values regarding sensitivity to taste, balance, culture and a traditional basis to things of worthiness. As an artist I always took this with the desire to move forward, however; to invent and reinvent; traditional values do not mean being stuck in the past, nor being stuffy or snobbish about art. As in many forms of the arts, which I love, my subjects represent form, design, colour and grace. What do they represent to me? Happiness. Peace of mind.

Is there an artist you particularly admire?

There have been so many who inspired me at different stages. When I was 17 it was Augustus John, because of his painterly technique and drawing skill, but also his free spirit. There's also Edvard Munch. As a youth I was quite a melancholy romanticist and I was fascinated by his life. I remember watching a fantastic three-and-a-half-hour Norwegian biopic that my brother recorded for me. It was amazing. I fell in love with the female lead.

Do you envisage a setting for your paintings to hang

No I don't. I make the picture and its frame as much of a thing of beauty as it can be, so it stands alone, and any setting will hopefully benefit from it. I use ornate frames with filigree slips, or hand water-gilded, hand-painted frames, which are made by my friend and framer Sallyanne Horley at Southgate Gallery in Exeter.

Do you have a favourite piece?

Every painting I create invariably becomes my favourite, until the next one.

What has been your most challenging piece?

I recently completed a portrait commission of the current vice-president of Skype. That was a challenge given how many people will see it.

What are your plans for the future?

I suspect that every hour that isn't spent painting is possibly wasted, though there needs to be a routine that includes things like walking my dog. I'd love to be like Picasso who just painted and drew every single day. His output was extraordinary.

It's difficult for artists to feel that they have become a success simply because they have a recognised style. The whole importance of being an artist is that you can readily change and develop. Whilst your market can change, and the people who are following you may change, I think you can work in one style without having to stick to it. I'd like my work to be known not only for paintings of models and nudes, but other types of painting, landscapes and even abstracts. I just want to paint.

Tags:

Traditional, romantic, beauty, female, nude, portrait.