Richard Farrant

Celebrated contemporary fine artist, Richard Farrant has a knack for tying walking, cycling, dancing, horse racing and vehicles of tranportational means together in the most appealing way; that being by capturing the engine rooms of these very diverse activities and rudimentary human functions of both force of habit and pleasurable pursuit. Be it close ups of legs (two and four-legged varieties) or wheels (again, two, four, six, eight or more in relation to bikes, cars and trains), Farrant focuses his artist attentions almost solely on the elements which ensure trajectory, movement and velocity with a stunning degree of creative acumen and visual vigorousness, the like of which we’ve never witnessed before.

Still, the very fact that Farrant became an artist in itself will barely raise an eyebrow on discovering that both his mother and father were successful artists in their own individual rights, his maternal figure being something of a dab hand with watercolours and oils at her disposal, while Farrant’s paternal half was considered an expert sculptor and illustrator. So with this in mind, Farrant was encouraged to experiment with artistic mediums and materials from an early age and to push boundaries with his inherited creative talents and fortitude.

Astonishingly, Farrant didn’t receive any notable formal training in the arts as such, instead he chose to set up and run an art consultancy and framing business, with his obvious artistic prowess only really coming into the commercial fore in latter years, when his now acclaimed acrylic and charcoal pieces have grabbed the art buying-public and collectors’ attentions through his series of impressive individual canvases and accumulated collections. Indeed, Farrant’s charcoal studies have been regularly met with much ado about something, with critics maintaining that this is a contemporary fine artist who not merely understands painting, yet an exponent who displays what they routinely describe as a complete mastery of his favoured medium of charcoal.

Farrant's trademark flourishes are measured by their fluidity of being and expressive visualisation, which immediately seek to capture the very essence of his chosen subject matter. Most recently, that subject matter has been the highly illustrative arena of horse racing, whereby Farrant determinedly pictorially cements the last, pivotal moments of the race, seismically portrayed with a knowing sense of accuracy and sensitivity engendered by an artist who benefits from a real awareness and appreciation of what he’s looking out upon. The raw, undiluted energy and the powerful dynamics of the participants are caught with an unrivalled majesty and depth of emotion, as Farrant’s explicit charcoal etchings are rendered with tenacious and mesmerising sketched detailing.

Speaking on the subject of horse racing Farrant sheds light on the background as to the why’s and wherefores by explaining that he was approached with a commission to work on a series of drawings for the new Brooklands Hotel, with the brief calling on the artist to seize and convey the history of the immediate area and Surrey-surrounds, which of course included the fabled race track and the Vickers factory amongst other notable highlights. Farrant elected to use charcoal as his weapon of artistic choice on the grounds that it was best suited for achieving the quintessential flavour of the environ’s 1940/50s heyday. This mindset and addressing of materials to instil a sense of time and place grew out of this project and subsequently saw Farrant further examine the movement and pace of life that represents here and now, rather than then and there. In Farrant’s own words, the artist says; “I like to work with a particular theme and usually find that this will dictate the media I use. Often this will be as a result of a particular project I have been asked to work on but I enjoy taking an idea and expanding into new areas to see where the ideas will lead”. He adds; “This process can last for as little as a few weeks or for several months and years”.