In my last post, I shared a different portrait of artist Dan Ferguson. I am lucky enough to know Dan through my friend Lisa, who shared his work with me via the magic of Instagram. Lately I'd been thinking about starting to collect art in a slightly more concentrated way than previously and thought that commissioning a small painting from an artist whose palette and subject I loved, and who I had a personal connection to, would be a good place to start.
Am I glad I did? You bet. Dan and I emailed a little about inspiration and subject first off. I had been arranging some of my own photos and bits and pieces of others' work on my shelves at home and realised that I already had an unconscious focus on swimmers, swimming pools, water, divers and so on. This made sense to me: I've always felt that water was my element, as I wrote about after my time in Morocco.
When I mentioned this to Dan he got pretty excited as he's already been working on a series of swimming pool pieces. He grew up swimming in a pool in Crouch End which his children then learned in before the family relocated to Northern Ireland and he shared with me some stills from a vintage informational film about that very spot. I highlighted a couple that spoke to me, and off he went!
A few weeks later, and we met in a Stoke Newington park so I could say hi to his son and youngest daughter, who I'd never met, snap some photos of his oldest, who I hadn't seen since she was a baby, shoot Dan himself, and of course receive my beautiful painting.
The soft blue and purples tones he has used suit the misty, memorialised act of leaping into an unknown void that is the future and the air all at once. The physicality of the flecks of paint is exciting to someone whose work exists (even in print) in a flat, 2-D state. It seemed fitting that we met on such a hot day, in such a childlike place, when I am so in-between myself.
The finished piece can be seen in his gallery.
Please do drop him a line if you're thinking of buying or commissioning a piece of art. He paints gorgeous family portraits too.
Dan can be found on the internet at the following places: website / Instagram or by emailing dan_fergie@outlook.com.
