Returning to the northern hemisphere with his Australian girlfriend in search of “the European lifestyle”, British artist JBK Fletcher has found a new home in Luxembourg. “We’re in the heart of Europe, you get the opportunity to see all these places you hear about, Brussels, Amsterdam... There’s so much art and culture, I wanted to immerse myself,” he explains.

Now ensconced in the 1535°C creative space in Differdange Fletcher acknowledges that being in Europe has changed the way he approaches his work, though not the root or foundation of its themes. Trouble is, he can’t quite pinpoint exactly what the influence is. “It’s hard to know if I had stayed in Australia whether I would be making this specific work--probably not.”

His current work is for a solo exhibition titled Digital Photography. It features three series of photorealistic paintings.

The first is of clouds based on photos taken by Fletcher or commissioned from other photographers specifically for the exhibition. Another is of “pixel” paintings that look abstract but are taken from actual digital photographs. The third series is based on Instagram photos.

“The whole obsession we have for images fascinates me. The juxtaposition between painting and the way we look at images today--between flicking through Instagram in four seconds and the hundreds of hours spent creating an oil painting using traditional techniques.”

But as an artist he also has a unique way of looking at images. He cites the famous Da Vinci quote about no painting ever being finished, just abandoned.

“As an artist you are always trying to make work that expresses the time in which you live--a direct reflection of today. And then you have the dissatisfaction of seeing your mistakes, your own preconceived ideas staring back at you. That gives you the urge to move on to the next thing.” 

“Digital Photography” is on exhibit until 4 January at H2O in Oberkorn.