On July 28th join us as we embark on A Hero’s Journey at Euan Roberts’ latest solo show at Enter Gallery.
Euan Roberts is an artist who creates colourful and optimistic artworks, designed to encourage, uplift and inspire. Via a charming cast of animal characters, Roberts urges us to live in the present moment and be grateful for what we have, and reminds us that we’re all worthy of love, just the way we are.
If this ray of sunshine sounds up your street, join us from 6-8pm on the 28th at our gallery on Bond Street to meet Roberts, and enjoy his joyful artworks over a drink or two.
RSVP here to join us for the Private View
In today’s blog, we’re chatting to Roberts about his upcoming show to learn a bit more about the pieces included and how he approaches creating his works.
A Hero’s Journey
Roberts’ latest solo show at Enter Gallery is called A Hero’s Journey – named after an archetypal narrative arc found in mythology, and often employed in film and TV.
Typically, those on the hero’s journey will encounter a struggle and a redemption, and by the end of the journey they will have learnt a key lesson about themselves or about life.
Roberts explains his spin on this classic trope :
“My work is all about instilling feelings of positivity in people, and trying to encourage people to feel better about themselves. To almost say – you’re already amazing – you don’t have to do anything, or go on any journey, to prove your worth because it’s intrinsic in everyone. We should be our own heroes. And quite often we’re really mean to ourselves. This show features work that is about that - about how we treat ourselves.”
“I read a quote once – ‘We’re all trying to get to where we’re supposed to be’ – which really resonated with me and with my work. Life’s a journey, but it’s not a physical one – it’s about trying to be okay with where you’re at, wherever that may be.”
Animal Instincts
The show features a number of original paintings depicting the cast of animal characters that crop up in Roberts’ work time and again. His cast includes a chimp, a crab, a shark, and most notably – a Fez-wearing bear. Roberts explains:
“There are so many things to paint in the world so it’s useful if you can narrow it down. I like the idea of really expanding into the universe of a few of the things I paint. Trying to come up with as many different narratives with the bear, the chimp, the shark, and the crab. It’s almost like the band Gorillaz – they’ve made so many albums, and played so many gigs and they are these four made up characters. I’m trying to do that with my art, take four or five different things and just see where it goes.”
Animals are a staple of the art world. In Enter Gallery alone, we have works from the likes of Banksy, Elizabeth Waggett, Dave White, and Peter Blake, all depicting creatures from the animal kingdom. However, Roberts’ slant is a little different…
“I’m not an animal artist. These pieces are not about the animals – they are a mirror that’s telling us things about humanity. A bear would never do yoga, but it is always moving in a purely instinctive way – that’s something humans try to replicate. Animals don’t need to do yoga because they stretch all the time, they breathe perfectly, they don’t get stressed. They work through things in a way that we don’t. There’s a harmony in nature I feel like we need to get back to as humans.”
“This work is the opposite of looking down at animals, thinking we have dominion over them. Instead, it’s saying that nature, animals, that kingdom, can probably teach us everything we need to know about what we’re doing wrong.”
Bear Necessities
One of the cast of characters that pops up more than others is Roberts’ bear. Previously, we’ve seen this bear doing yoga, relaxing on a lilo, chilling on a remote desert island and dishing out free beers and free hugs.
Now, in A Hero’s Journey, four of the original pieces from the show feature his bear returning to the yoga mat, taking a dip in the Arctic, cycling to an oasis, and enjoying a quiet moment of contemplation.
Given its regular appearances, we were keen to learn more about the bear and what it represents. Euan tells us:
“I use the bear as an avatar for ideas around Zen Buddhism and Daoist traditions – wise beings like the Buddha or Lao Tzu, who come from spiritual traditions where people sort of transcend their ego and become pure zen in the moment. Kind of like a Jedi too I suppose. Humans can’t attain it. People always say that you have to let go of your ego – but we really can’t because we’re human. It would be like getting rid of your skin.”
“The way I paint it, the bear is expressionless. It also doesn’t have a gender, or a before or after, it can be doing yoga, and then it can be in the Arctic Circle. Bear is always just completely in the moment, doing its thing.”
Here for A Good Time
Also featured in the show is Here for A Good Time – a series of 10 original paintings in different colourways. The originals depict a dog surrounded by bottles of Veuve Clicquot. Speaking of the piece, Roberts tells us:
“In art history, who were the paintings of? Normally it was rich old white aristocrats who pay for people to depict them a certain way, so I think it’s quite funny doing it with a dog. The Frenchie is good because it’s ears stick up – if it doesn’t have a good silhouette then it probably won’t work in one of my pieces.”
Looking at the print, it’s impossible to tell what Roberts’ dog is thinking. Is it drunk, is it lost in deep thought, has it just had a realisation?
“There are intentions I have when I’m making the works, but often the feeling gets projected onto the piece afterwards, and people see it differently. You can apply your own narrative.”
Easy does it
Listening to Roberts speak about how he works and the meaning behind the show, it’s clear his work is informed by his attitude to life and vice versa. Much like the bear riding the waves, when creating, he relies on instinct…
“I kind of trust everything. I’m not someone who just waits for an idea or gets blocked or frustrated because you can just start making stuff and if it’s bad, you just don’t put it in the show. It might inform the next piece, so whatever you’re creating is linking the whole thing together.”
“I love simple stuff and that’s something I’ve been trying to do with these paintings – refine things. There’s normally only one, two or three elements max. I’ve been trying to strip them back. My work is all about the balance of colours – putting two different colours together and making a third thing. That’s one of my favourite things in art. It’s an instinctive thing – with art, the more you do it, the more you get a sense of your own language.”
A Hero’s Journey is taking place at Enter Gallery on Friday 28th July from 6-8pm.
RSVP here to secure your spot.
