Jim Farrant was born in 1972. He attended Art College but left after one term and considers himself to be self-taught. He travelled extensively throughout Australia, America and India before returning to settle in London and began to consider painting as a full-time career. Jim's early paintings were almost entirely abstract - his influences being the work of Diebenkorn and de Kooning. He had his first one man show in London in 2003 and his second in Devon in 2005. That show concentrated on his current realistic style and couldn't have been more in contrast to his early abstract work. "I WANT MY PAINTINGS TO BE REALISTIC BUT WITH AN ENERGY AND FREEDOM OF EXECUTION" Jim now lives in Somerset and produces work for 2 prestigious galleries, his work is in collections throughout the world.

\"I FEEL THE ELEMENT OF REALISM IN MY PAINTING IS CRUCIAL IN TERMS OF DESCRIBING MY SUBJECT MATTER WITH HONESTY - TO ME, THIS IS SIMPLE, FIGURATIVE PAINTING. I CHOOSE TO PAINT SCENES OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE, DEPICTING PEOPLE IN EVERY DAY SITUATIONS AND ENVIRONMENTS. I FIND HUMAN BEINGS FASCINATING AND AM CONSTANTLY INTERESTED BY THE DIVERSITY THEY PROVIDE. I LOVE TO PEOPLE WATCH. A BUSTLING TOWN CENTRE OR A SUN-KISSED PIAZZA WILL GIVE ME LOTS OF REFERENCE, THE COLOUR OF PEOPLES' CLOTHING, THEIR HAIRSTYLES AND ABOVE ALL THE ENDLESS SUBTLETIES OF BODY LANGUAGE AND POSTURE. MY PAINTINGS FOCUS MAINLY ON WOMEN - THEY ARE MORE AT EASE WITH THEIR BODIES AND I FIND THEM FASCINATING TO PAINT AND I HOPE THAT I ACHIEVE THIS WITH A FAIR DEGREE OF HONESTY."


JIM FARRANT FEBRUARY 2010