Malcolm Ashman was born in Bath, Somerset in 1957.
Malcolm is a painter working in oils and pencil, the landscape and the figure are the principal subjects.
He is an academician at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA), a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) at the Mall Galleries in London and the Bath Society of Artists. He has exhibited widely in London and the south of England, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Threadneedle Prize and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
He lives and works in Bath.
Two subjects have engaged me over the years, the landscape and the figure. I don’t maintain a single cohesive style but prefer to allow each piece to dictate my response, some find this confusing.
The landscape paintings, no longer directly observed, are worked from brief drawings, memories and something deeper, maybe inherited memories I can’t quite pin down. They are places I know well; this is an important part of the work, revisiting the familiar. At its core it’s about solitude.
My work with the figure is an altogether different proposition; my impulse is to observe closely and record small details. Drawing someone is an intimate process and it’s important for me to converse and exchange ideas while working, it makes the work collaborative. I enjoy the unnerving experience of not being in complete control.
- 2017 The Michael Harding Painting Award, RBA
The Bath Society Prize, Victoria Gallery
Cotswold Mounts Award, Royal Watercolour Society, London - 2016 The Vametric Prize, Black Swan Open Arts Competition
The Minerva Prize for Portraiture, Victoria Gallery - 2009 The Bridge McFarland Solicitors Art Prize, ROI
- 2007 The Artist Magazine Award, RBA
- 2006 The Alan Gourley Memorial Award, ROI
- 2005 The Cedar House Gallery Award, NEAC
The Cornelissen Prize, ROI
The Andrew Brownsword Prize, Victoria Gallery - 2004 The Davison Award, RBA
- 1998 Black Swan Painting Competition Public Choice Prize