Graeme McAllister

Graeme Mc Allister is a practicing artist and designer based in the city of Newry in Northern Ireland.

" I have always been particularly inspired by the surrealist movement and fantasy art from a young age. The paintings of Salvador Dali fascinated me as I found they had an emotional depth that was missing from more traditional approaches to art such as landscapes and portraiture. The impossible landscapes and strange figures of the surrealist movement spoke to my imagination and imagination after all is the window that we view the "real world" through."

" As a student I specialised in IT and systems development, it was then that I discovered digital imaging. I was immediately fascinated by tools such as Photoshop and 3D Studio Max."

" I enjoy combining the technical thinking process involved in using computer software with the imaginative concepts of the images themselves. This method of working quite often guides the subject matter I explore as much of my work is about man’s endeavours to combine the material and spiritual worlds."

"My visual poetry takes these ideas a stage further giving the written pieces and imagery more depth and power then they could achieve in isolation. I have always enjoyed reading the work of the great Victorian poets such as Percy Shelly and writing my own poetry. I find the process of writing poetry similar to creating digital artwork. I enjoy the process of using the imagination to create lyrics that are then shaped and refined to complement the structure and rhythm of the poem they belong to."

Graeme has held a solo exhibition in the Sean Hollywood Art Centre entitled 'Mindscape' and is currently working on a collabrative project with other poets.

His next solo art project has a working title of 'we touched life's secret code' and involves a series of images based on the different stages a person passes through as they seek self-understanding.

Major influences include:

Salvador Dali, Derek Lea, Susan Seddon Boulet, MC Escher and Alex Gray.

Check out his Website at: www.graeme-art.co.uk where you can buy Prints or Posters of his exceptional work.

email him at: graeme@graeme-art.co.uk

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