Guy Beggs Contemporary Artist
I was born in South Africa and studied fine art, first as an undergraduate at Maidstone College of Art, then as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy Schools, London, followed by a final year at Goldsmiths College London.
I taught at Wimbledon School of Art and the Sir John Cass School of Art, where I became head of fine art and subsequently dean of the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art Design and Manufacture. I was founder and director of Metropolitan Works Creative Industries Centre at London Metropolitan University and a co-founder and director of London's Creative Knowledge Exchange in collaboration with the Royal College of Art.
Throughout my career I exhibited extensively and have work in many private and public collections around the world including Tate Britain, The Museum of London, the Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand and the Lethbridge Gallery, Canada.
Although a figurative painter for many years, I moved towards abstracted imagery to deal with an increasing desire for emotional expression. I now draw inspiration from being in the landscape, from the energy it constantly exudes through all the seasonal changes. The work is seldom site specific as I am more interested in the process of making a painting than with painting a landscape. I try to discard intention and follow the 'incidents and accidents' that occur during this process, taking me down unanticipated routes to capture some of the energy, shapes, colour and light retained in memory. The process of applying marks and colour, scraping it off, changing the composition, is slow while the pathways of the mind are so quick. Whilst painting I am often reminded of lines of poetry or prose collected over time and these sometimes serve as titles.