The silent worlds of Richard Bizley
01/12/2007 . Source: Richard Bizley 
When it comes to fine art and illustration, artist Richard Bizley tends to think of science fiction at one end and astronomical/space art at the other end with a rather narrow fuzzy margin in between keeping them separate. It is SF that he concentrates on for this article in SFcrowsnest.com. My name is Richard Bizley and I am a full-time artist and gallery owner, painting mainly Science Fiction and Space Art as well as some prehistoric and traditional scenes. I live and work in Lyme Regis, Dorset and am a Fellow of the IAAA (International Association of Astronomical Artists). I tend to think of Science Fiction at one end and astronomical/space art at the other end with a rather narrow fuzzy margin in between keeping them separate. The IAAA is firmly within the astronomical end and it is SF that I will concentrate on for this article. I try with my paintings to keep the two subjects separate - both are fascinating in their own fields.
I was born profoundly deaf in 1959 and have always loved painting. I have been interested in Science Fiction since very early childhood. Due to my deafness and not having access to sub-titled programmes and films on television I would, at the age of four or so, watch 'Thunderbirds', 'Dr Who' and so on and imagine the story-lines. This must have helped me to be imaginative. I had books on futuristic machines and I used to draw imaginary futuristic scenes from the early age of four, also drawing and painting countless alien creatures and robots. This went on throughout my growing years and one day at the age of 12, I was shopping and spotted a book in W.H. Smith that grabbed my attention like no other book. It was big and colourful, entitled 'Challenge Of The Stars' by David A. Hardy and Patrick Moore. Although it was not a Science Fiction book, the paintings leapt out at me and it was then I realised I wasn't the only one who dreamt of alien horizons, and my way of thinking about these crystallised.
In my teenage years I was very popular at school, mainly because of my art, as by now I would paint scenes of other worlds and so forth whenever I could.
Then came the harsh realities of life and having to get a job, working in a microbiology lab for years. I used to have a tiny flat and I painted in my kitchen between the pots and pans.
Then I got married. While courting, I painted a Science Fiction painting for my future wife and the trick worked! After a while we became somewhat disillusioned with our lifestyle, although we were happy with our home and having children. We decided I would hand in my notice at a model-making company, where I was now working, and we moved to Lyme Regis in the south west of England in 1994 in order for me to paint full-time. To begin with this was fraught with problems due to not earning enough to make a living so I started my own model range of 1/200 scale modern military aircraft models (Eclipse Models) which I sold world-wide.
After a few years, a gallery in the town became available for sale. We bought it and this meant I was able to paint full-time. The gallery, 'BizleyArt', specialises in Space and Prehistoric Art, but I am expanding to include SF. I think Science Fiction is seriously under-rated by too many people in the artistic world. In the gallery, I get two groups of people. One would say, 'Oh you like sci-fi stuff' in a derogatory way, but mostly when people visit they tell me they haven't seen anything like it in a gallery and their eyes light up and they end up buying prints or an original painting. I find this very satisfying as my aim is to get SF and space art respected a bit more. I avoid pure fantasy. My imaginative art is based on what could be possible and science being science means there is just so much of what could be 'out there' in the future or in space that the mind boggles.
One interesting thing is that I have synaesthesia and ironically in spite of being unable to enjoy music at all due to my deafness I am able to 'hear' things that I see in the form of noises in my head. This could be towering cloudscapes, moving objects, repeating objects such as lights on runways and so on, although I do not 'hear' colours. It was only recently that I realised this was unusual and a synaesthesia expert visited me and confirmed that I had this condition. It was most surprising because I assumed everyone was the same so I did not talk about it until I saw a television programme about synaesthesia. I cannot imagine art without being able to 'hear' composition and scenes. I visualise these in my mind before commencing any painting and know how a painting will 'sound' before I finish. This has a 100% effect on my art and is a great gift that I use to the full.
Recently I was commissioned to do two very large paintings (120cm x 50cm!) 'War Of The Worlds'. One is set in Victorian times and the other is modern. They were great fun to do, but a lot of work! Here are the two images:-
I have started doing miniature paintings and these are proving to be very popular as they are affordable and do not take up too much space on the walls! This is an example:
It is inspiring to dream up of scenes of exotic starships rumbling with awesome power, darting through the incredible gulfs of space, weird life-forms thriving in extreme environments, such as these gentle gigantic Jovian type of creatures living thousands of kilometres down within Jupiter's atmosphere, also shown are two spherical spacecraft, shaped to withstand the enormous pressure of the atmosphere:
Recently, I did a rather romantic painting called 'Islands Of The Gods'. It is of a couple walking one evening in an O'Neill type of space colony. I am and have always been concerned with the destruction of the Earth's rich variety of life forms.
This painting gives a positive message that Man's engineering will be so great that we are able to create more space for Earth's teeming life to thrive and evolve alongside Man wherever he goes to the stars in our galaxy and beyond. This painting was one of the winning entries for the 2008 N.S.S. (National Space Settlement) calendar competition.
I think of this painting as an "Astronomical" painting, but I enclose this knowing many Science Fiction fans appreciates many Astronomical scenes.
People often ask me where I get my inspiration from. It can be from anything. I do read Science Fiction novels, scientific articles etc. and keep touch with other Astronomical Artists and so on. If I was asked for my favourite Science Fiction authors, I would say Arthur C.Clarke, Stephen Baxter, Ben Bova, plus a whole host of other authors.
My gallery is very small and every available wall-space is covered with my paintings and prints. I have started stocking high-quality fully-painted miniature models from Japan and these include Science Fiction models. We have found a local company that will print my paintings onto stretched canvasses, so this will be an exciting addition to our range of prints for sale.
The gallery is situated in a lovely old part of the town right opposite the Dinosaurland museum. On the seafront are the famous cliffs containing fossils and there are plenty of B&B's and restaurants here. See Lyme Regis Tourist board for more info: www.lymeregis.com
I take commissions large or small and enjoy painting just about any Science Fiction subjects. Have a look at my website for more pictures at http://www.bizleyart.com www.bizleyart.com
I can be contacted at: richard@bizleyart.com
Thanks for reading!
Richard Bizley
Copyright of all images shown here belongs to Richard Bizley. (C) 2007. |
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