By Sarah Becker
Kettering artist Jack Watto’s new studio space recently cast a watchful eye over a Halloween-themed photoshoot that seemed to blurr the boundaries between art and reality.
Jack, a full-time artist best known for his figurative and abstract expressionist oil paintings, recently moved into his second, larger workspace, which is part of the Broughton Grange Conference Centre complex in Kettering.
The former stone barn provided an atmospheric backdrop for a fun, Halloween-themed creative photoshoot when members of Kettering’s Friendliest Photography Learning Group visited earlier this month.
Models Holly Bar-Bee Fulton and Jess Jess, dressed in suitably spooky attire, posed among the emotive paintings while photographers captured a series of atmospheric shots.
“The art seemed to merge with the real,” said one photographer, describing how the models appeared to step straight from the painted scenes. “At times, it was difficult to tell where the artwork ended and the living subjects began.”
One particular painting captivated the group: a large portrait whose eyes seemed to follow viewers around the room — a modern echo of the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic gaze. Jack revealed it’s one of his newest works, begun soon after he moved into the studio three months ago.
Inspired by Mel Gibson’s 2004 film, ‘The Passion of the Christ’, Jack emphasised that it’s not a religious piece.
“It’s about suffering,” he said. “You’ve got a man carrying a wooden cross — the pain, the torture — and he’s willing to go through all that because he believes in humanity. It’s not about religion. It’s about endurance and what we’re capable of.”
At seven feet by six, the scale of the work is one of the reasons behind the move to a larger studio.
“I just needed more room,” explained. “My canvases were getting bigger, and my old space simply couldn’t contain them.”
The new studio is part of a small creative hub. Jack shares the building with four of his neighbours from York Road; Gary, who restores period furniture; Adam, a jeweller and filmmakers, Kelly and Sabine. “It’s a great mix of creative energy under one roof,” Jack said.
He’s currently working on two large-scale paintings, switching between them to keep his inspiration flowing.
“When I hit a kind of writer’s block with one,” he said, “I start another canvas. Eventually, working on the smaller one unlocks my imagination for the bigger piece.”
As the evening progressed, the models moved effortlessly between poses with the evocative paintings providing the perfect muse for some creative shots.
Jack is an alumnus from The Slade School of Fine Art in London and Camberwell School of Art.
One of the interesting things about his artistic style is how form often emerges from experimentation.
“If I create dots and lines and move the paint around in different directions, use different colours and create certain spaces, forms and shapes, and you see something in it, it’s always a figure.”
Reflecting on his artistic style, Jack described abstract expressionism as a way of translating emotion into visual form.
“I’m totally enthralled and enveloped in abstract expressionism.”
“Picasso had cubism, Dali had surrealism — for me, abstract expressionism is about altering reality,” he said. “Pure abstraction can be chaos. To make sense of it, you have to lead the viewer into it — bring a bit of normalcy so they can find their way.”
The night passed in a flash, leaving behind a gallery of striking images – and perhaps one or two goosebumps.
Photographers: Zuzana Baisova, Andy Gardner, Alan J Kane.
When art and imagination collide under the gaze of Jack’s watchful canvases, even the still life couldn’t resist joining the spirit of things.
And what does the future hold for Jack in his new studio?
” I just have to paint,” he says simply. It’s inside me and it’s what I do every day. I’d like to carry on with the work I’ve created around the environment but it’s wherever the brush leads me.”
Discover more of Jack’s work on the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/JackWattoArt and https://www.instagram.com/jackwattoart/
For enquiries or to get in touch with the Friendliest Learning photography group, visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/471109736589143
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