Guy Beggs’ work as a painter has been influenced by reflections on the nature of existence and the passage of time, as well as with the formal problems of the painted surface, in themed series since the 1970s. Urban isolation was explored through the photo-realist paintings of the 1980s, but this exacting technique and snap-shot view of life constrained a growing desire for greater subjectivity. The established practice of freeze-framing moments gave way initially to work of a more contemplative personal nature, and then to time-full observation that was increasingly landscape based.

The catalyst for change was a chance encounter with the Maheno Wreck on Fraser Island, Australia. This opened up new approaches to both materials and surface that supported growing metaphysical concerns. The rusting surface of the hulk of the Maheno Wreck inspired greater freedom with mark-making in a series that progressively became a metaphor for the Australian landscape.

The recent Fallen Leaves series could be seen as a metaphor for the natural world’s cycle of decay and regeneration. These time-full palimpsests of nature’s perennial surface-layering, provide not only motifs for paintings but suggest new approaches to the painted surface.

Guy Beggs was born in Durban, South Africa in 1947. He studied fine art at Maidstone College of Art, The Royal Academy Schools, and Goldsmiths College, London. He began exhibiting in the late 1960s and has continued to show work in mixed and solo exhibitions at home and abroad ever since.  He is represented by many private and public collections around the world, the nearest being Tate Britain and the Museum of London and the furthest the Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand. He is the founder of metropolitan works Creative Industries Centre in London.