Artists inspired by London: Stephen Harwood

Painting the grittier side of London

Stephen at his current exhibition. Photo G. Preston

Hi Stephen. Tell us about yourself and your journey into art

I honestly cannot remember when I didn't make images of one sort or another - it's always felt natural, a part of me and how I navigate the world. I have always felt strongly that art should have something to say.

I grew up in Shropshire, and went to school in the middle of the South Shropshire hills in the 1980’s; where I studied GSCE art. My art tutor, a former roadie for David Bowie, was a practising artist with work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He had a studio space in a corner of the art room where he would carry on with his work at lunchtime and in the evenings and I often watched him work. He would bring in catalogues for me to look at - Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud - ‘School of London’ artists - which is interesting to look back on now, and lend me reviews in newspapers and art magazines - so I became aware of things that were happening in galleries and major spaces at a young age. For most of my classmates, art was just another lesson, but for me, it was already becoming a way of life.

One day he brought in a book on David Hockney and said with some seriousness 'I think you should read this - you’ll get a lot from it’. Less than 10 years later, I met David when I was working at the National Gallery Shop; he became a sort of mentor to me and remains one of my oldest friends. My tutor saw things that needed to be drawn out and worked on, and like most good teachers he set up connections and patterns that I could take away into my future.

Then I got to college and art A level. The tutor there was also a practicing artist but rather than encouraging students seemed to believe in a public humiliation. One day, I took in a large acrylic on hardboard painting I had made at home - which I thought was quite good, quite ambitious, but he held it up at the front of the class and denounced it. Everything about my picture was wrong - the subject, the colours, the scale, the paint itself. But there was no encouragement or advice on how to do it better.

Then a similar situation a couple of weeks later with a poster I had made for a play, and then with some illustrations I made for a poetry zine a friend of mine had published. I was enjoying collaborating and making things, putting them in front of people, I was making an effort to put my work out into the world. But my tutor was making me feel that there was no point.

I was already spending a lot of time in London, disappearing off - much to my parent’s dismay, and had met Gilbert and George (G&G) by this point, as I was an enormous fan and had looked them up in the phone book. It made sense to me to make contact with other artists if I felt a connection to their work.

I told G&G how unhappy I was at college. They said 'Why not just leave and have a show somewhere? You are making strong work already'.  So I did, probably unwisely - and had my first exhibition in a cafe that did art exhibitions in Jermyn Street, next door to St James's Church, Piccadilly, aged 17. The pictures were around £300 each and I sold everything. There was some press attention, too - so there didn't seem much point in going back to my A levels. I carried on painting and having exhibitions, and mostly living off my work for several years, with the odd part-time job.

Beneath the paywall:

• Why Stephen draws inspiration from the grittier side of London

• His favourite places in East London

• Memories of how London has transformed around him