22 Artists & IllustratorsMASTERCLASS
Vilhelm Hammershøi, for his quiet way with figures in
interiors, and the Victorian artist Arthur Melville, whose
large-scale paintings weren’t burdened by what Wil
describes as the ‘baggage’ of watercolour, which is often
associated with smaller, cheaper works.
Recently, Wil has been loosening up his style with large,
evocative figure paintings. After years spent capturing
undisturbed, natural scenes, he wants to kick up the dust a
little and experiment with painting set ups and life models.
He is currently creating Joan of Arc-style armour out of
cardboard for a figurative portrait. The aim is to play around
with the idea of contrived ‘fakeness’; a kind of theatrical,
artificial style seen in movies like The Royal Tenenbaums:
“Everything is so mannered, but reality is thrown around.”
No longer satisfied with being an
avid people watcher, he wants to
curate the story behind his work,
allowing the viewers to lose
themselves in the drama of it. But for
now, Wil finds himself on the precipice
of the fine art world, wash brush in
hand, getting ready to make the leap.
http://www.wilfreeborn.co.ukWIL’S FASCINATION WITH
FIGURE DRAWING SETS
HIM APART... EVEN HIS
CROWD SCENES POSSESS
A RARE EXPRESSIVENESS
ABOVE Life Drawing
Outside, oil on
canvas, 45x55cm“Paper cups are almost a perfect
support to paint on. They are
matt on the outside and glossy
on the inside, so the surface is
really easy to draw on with paint.
The cups are really sturdy too.
They are built to hold water, so
you can put a lot of watercolour
on the surface and it’s not going
to ripple. Theoretically you could
even use acrylic or oil paint.
There are no rules.”WIL FREEBORN ON
PAINTING PAPER CUPSA MUG’S GAME?
18 Wil Freeborn.indd 22 18/02/2016 12:34