Collection: Billy Bagilhole

Magwyd Billy Bagilhole ar aelwyd yn llawn o baentiadau a phrintiau ei dad. Er pan yn ifanc bu'n tynnu lluniau Americanwyr brodorol, anifeiliaid a ffigurau crefyddol gan ddynwared y delweddau hynny a grëwyd gan ei dad ar y waliau. Maent yn parhau i'w gyfareddu gan y bu ei dad farw yn 2001 pan oedd Billy yn 6 oed. Mae ei brofiad wedi ei addurno fel capsiwl amser o greadigrwydd ar gyfer ei waith. Mae'n aml yn datgan mai oherwydd ei dad y mae wedi dyfalbarhau gyda celf ac mai dyma pam mae ei empathi at wneud marciau, ac ar gyfer creu mor gryf.

Mae Bagilhole yn gweithio'n bennaf trwy gyfrwng paentio a gwneud ffilmiau. Yn aml yn gorchuddio cynfasau gyda halen a phaent trwchus, mae'n mwynhau'r elfen dechnegol o fewn paentio, o fewn lliw ac o fewn llygad y lens. Mae Bagilhole yn aml yn gweithio trwy ystumiau mewnol ac awgrymiadau o gynrychioliadau hiraethus ar fywyd haniaethol. Yn aml yn gwrthdaro lliw â delweddau sinistr. Mae'n teimlo bod peintio yn dod yn ffurf fynegiannol o ddealltwriaeth, a thrwy adael y gwaith fel cwestiwn agored, yn drosiad anhysbys, sy'n golygu o fewn paentio neu wneud ffilmiau, o fewn celf yn dod yn ddiderfyn.

Yr atyniad at baentio yn ôl Bagilhole yw'r gallu i greu'r anhysbys, yr annirnadwy a'r rhyfedd, gan greu ymdeimlad o ddryswch. Gyda themâu dilyniant megis yr esgyrn pysgod a welir yn aml, ei gymeriad amlwg "Edwin"" neu'r tarw, gallwn ddechrau gweld awgrym o berthynas rhwng y darnau hyn o ddelweddau gwahaniaethol yn aml. Mae Bagilhole yn credu ein bod ni’n gynhenid chwilfrydig a bod mynd ar drywydd celf yn cynnig mynegiant i’r natur chwilfrydig yma. Mae creu celf yn datblygu yn gyfrwng i ryfeddu, rhywbeth na ellir ei ddatrys yn bôs synhwyraidd sy'n ennyn diddordeb yr artist a'r gwyliwr.

Mae ‘Tetley's Tango’ yn astudiaeth o atgofion Billy Bagilhole o chwarae rygbi yn ystod y cyfnod er pan oedd yn 6 oed hyd at ei 20au cynnar. Mae Billy yn aml yn paeintio ystumiau trosiadol trwy weithredoedd corfforol, megis ffigurau'n dawnsio, pobl yn cysgu, pobl yn disgyn, neu yn yr achos hwn bod yn ddyn sy'n cael ei daclo gan y diafol. Wrth wneud y gwaith yma edrychodd yn helaeth ar ollyngdod trwy chwaraeon treisgar megis muai thai, bocsio a rygbi. Yn darlunio sut deimlad yw wynebu ofnau, adfyd, y paent a all ddod gydag ef a'r twf a ddaw ochr yn ochr ag ef. Roedd eisiau archwilio beth sy'n gwneud i ni fod eisiau cymryd rhan mewn pethau fel hyn a ble mae'n mynd â ni. Mae llawer o symbolau sy'n ailadrodd ac yn amneidio at rannau arbennig o'i fywyd i’w gweld yn nifer o weithiau Billy. Er engrhaifft, y peintiau o Guinness sy'n cydredeg â ffrâm y paentiad, dyma oedd hoff ddiod ei ddiweddar dad ac mae wedi bod yn fotiff sy'n codi dro ar ôl tro yng ngwaith Billy, gan fod ei dŷ pan yn tyfu i fyny yn llawn cyfeiriadau gweledol at y diod hwn. Ymysg motiffau eraill y gellir eu gweld mae yr esgidiau matador ar y ffigwr sy'n cael ei daclo, amnaid at y ffaith fod Billy wedi treulio llawer o’i blentyndod ar hen fferm orennau yn ne Sbaen.

//

Billy Bagilhole grew up in a household full of his father’s paintings and prints. From a young age he was drawing Native Americans, animals and religious figures imitating those images created by his father upon the walls. They continued to be a fascination after his father passed away in 2001 when Bagilhole was 6. His experience is embellished as a time capsule of creativity for his work. He often states that the reason he continued to persist with art was because of his father, and this is why his empathy for mark-making and for creating is so strong.

Bagilhole predominantly works through the mediums of painting and film-making. Often covering canvases with salt and thick paint, he enjoys the technicalities within painting, within colour and within the eye of the lens. Bagilhole frequently works through internal gestures and hints of nostalgic representations on abstracted life. Often colliding colour with imagery of sinisterness. He feels that painting becomes an expressionistic form of understanding and that by leaving the work as an open question, an unknown metaphor, meaning within painting or film-making, within art, becomes infinite.

The attraction to painting, Bagilhole states, is the ability to create the unknown, the unimaginable and the uncanny, creating a sense of bewilderment. With sequencing themes such as the often-seen fish bones, his occurring character "Edwin" or the bull, we can start to see a hint at relations between these often differentiated pieces of imagery. Bagilhole believes that we are inherently curious and that the pursuit of art offers an expression for this curious nature. Making art becomes a medium for wonder, something unsolvable a sensory koan that engages both artist and viewer.

‘Tetley's Tango’ is a study of Billy Bagilhole's young memories of playing rugby from the age of around 6 into his early 20's. Billy often paints metaphorical gestures through physical acts, like figures dancing, people sleeping, people falling, or in this instance being a man tackled by the devil. Whilst making this work he looked a lot at the act of letting go through violent sports such as muai thai, boxing and rugby. Depicting what it feels like to face fears, adversity, the pain that can come with it and the growth that comes alongside it. He wanted to explore what it is within us that makes us want to participate in things like this and where it takes us. As with a lot of Billy's work, there are a lot of reoccurring symbols and certain nods to parts of his life. Such as the pints of Guinness that run alongside the frame of the painting, it was his late father’s favourite drink and has been a reoccurring motif in Billy's work. His home when he was growing up was full of visual references to this beverage. Other motifs that can be spotted include the matador shoes on the figure being tackled which is a nod to a lot of time spent on an old orange farm in southern Spain during his childhood.