James Gillick is an artist working in the figurative tradition. He works from his studio in Louth, Lincolnshire. He paints still-lifes, including game paintings, portraits, horse paintings, as well as church re-ordering and gilding.
Life and work
Gillick gained a degree in Landscape Architecture from Cheltenham and Gloucester College in 1993. He is the son of activist Victoria Gillick and theatre set designer and former UKIP county councillor Gordon Gillick. James Gillick has an identical twin, sculptor Theodore Gillick. He is cousin to 2002 Turner Prize nominee Liam Gillick, and his great uncle and aunt were the sculptor Ernest Gillick and medallionist Mary Gillick. Gillick has an especial affection for the Flemish, Dutch and Spanish masters of the 17th century, particularly Velázquez and work in the Bodegón style. Using techniques of their era, Gillick handcrafts all the materials he uses within his studio; from the oil paints, waxes and glues, to the varnishes, canvases and stretchers. He uses a limited palette of six colours plus black & white, having prepared the oils from ground pigments. In 1998 he won a commission to paint Margaret Thatcher. The three-quarter length portrait was commissioned by the University of Buckingham to commemorate her six years as the chancellor of Britain’s only private university. Thatcher was, ‘absolutely delighted’ with her portrait and commented, ‘Can I thank the artist for doing the impossible – a kind portrait of me in a way I would like to be remembered.’ 2005 saw the completion of a portrait of Pope John Paul II commissioned by The Bishop of Nottingham, England, the Rt Rev. Malcolm McMahon, O.P. The portrait now hangs in the Lady Chapel at St Barnabas' Cathedral in Nottingham, and an identical copy tours the country's parishes on request. An example of church restoration work by Gillick and his family can be seen at the church of St Gregory and St Augustine in Summertown, Oxford. The work here includes a new reredos for which he has painted panels featuring the patron saints St Augustine, St Gregory and the Virgin and child, plus a further ten panels in a type of iconostasis.
