Archie Proudfoot
Courtesy of Smithson Projects
When I first picked up a chisel-tipped sign painting brush it was the first brush I’d touched in years.
At school I had dreamt of being an artist one day, but in the midst of more ‘sensible’ choices that dream was lost. By Learning how to paint signs the old way I found a route back.
The years of dedication and discipline I devoted to manipulating these brushes and mastering the craft powered a wider creative rediscovery. Once I could pull off those long elegant brush strokes I rode the wave of the revival in the craft, painting signs for businesses and homes all over my home city of London.
In my first small shared studio space I began to create artwork using these techniques, exploring our relationship with language in glass, gold and enamel. The combination of this craft sensibility and an artists eye began to attract larger commissions, and over the years I’ve made work for the likes of Soho House, Audi UK, Hauser & Wirth and the Tate.
Now I get to live that old dream: Turning up every day to my beautiful studio, drawing, painting or filming a broad range of work for me, my buyers and my clients. But whatever the project is it always comes back to the brush.
