Location : London / Cornwall
Profession / passion : Artist / Publisher
Website : www.danieljfletcher.co.uk / www.foolscap-editions.com
Instagram : @daniel.j.fletcher / @foolscap.editions

One Day is an ongoing project sparked by the Covid-19. In the days of isolation we would like to focus on what we do best; bringing people together. Read more about the project here.
We will be posting one new day of someones life every day until we run out of contributors. See our instagram stories to experience these peoples One Day in action.

A song that everyone should experience.
Turiya & Ramakrishna by Alice Coltrane.

What is the story behind your profession?
On leaving university, I began working for fine art silkscreen printers (@makereadymakeready). I was involved in printing some really interesting and ambitious pieces for artists. This period of time had a big impact on my practice and me, and opened my eyes to a different way of approaching print and making work in general.
When I was starting out my work was quite orientated around silkscreen. I tried to push what I could achieve with the process and over a few years developed a body of large one-off printed pieces on canvas.
In the past couple of years I have been painting more and more. My systematic approach to painting is very much informed by my roots in printing.

How do you want people to react to your work?
The presence of faces and expressions is the cornerstone of my practice and the starting point from which I build up the compositions. Often, people who are new to the work don’t pick up on the faces straight away and this is something that I encourage within the ambiguous way I compose the pieces.
Specific emotions are normally reflected fundamentally through the basic form of an expression; the suggestions of eyes and a mouth using either line or shape. What cannot be expressed through the crude forms of basic facial features can be expressed through the use of colour, application of paint and the nature of the mark making.
The work can be read on two levels: as playful portraits but also at face value as abstract compositions defined by their formal values of mark, shape, colour and tone.

Quality or quantity?
In making work quality, but you need the Quantity to get there!

If you work with a partner, when and how did you meet?
I share a studio with my partner Euphrosyne Andrews (@euphrosyneandrews). We met in 2011 when we were both studying for our art foundation course at Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall. This was undoubtedly my best year of eduction and where I met some my closest friends to this day.

How do you relax?
By turning off my phone, closing my email and going for a walk or cold swim in the river at the end of the day.

What is the most inspiring text you read recently?
I just sent a book of poems “swaling and beaters” by Harry Roberts (@hp.roberts)

How has the current situation affected how you work?
I have been staying with family outside of London for the majority of this lockdown where I have been lucky to be able to adopt the loft of an old farm building as a temporary makeshift studio. I am in a very remote location and the change in pace from London and being in the natural landscape has been inspiring. Initially couldn't get materials so was making a lot of smaller work on paper, I have since been able to get canvas and stretcher bars and have been developing some bigger paintings.

Lastly, how do wish to see this current situation have a positive impact on our lives?
I hope that this massive upheaval to everyones routine will help people identify what is important to them in day to day life, and act as a platform to go back to a more sustainable ‘normal’.

One Day : Daniel Fletcher - Artist / Publisher