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ON THIS MONTH: ART<br />
Focus on:<br />
Beautiful Ugly<br />
by Yap<br />
Acrylic & cheap ink pen on<br />
water paper, A1, £1,600<br />
How did this image start? As an idea? From<br />
a memory? I’m an obsessive worker, it’s all I do,<br />
from when I get up in the morning to when I go<br />
to bed. I’m working on six or seven paintings at a<br />
time, as well as studying mathematics and making<br />
music. This one is all about lines. We generally<br />
think that symmetrical lines are beautiful, and<br />
asymmetry is ugly, but if you look at anything at<br />
a microscopic level you’ll find that all lines are<br />
beautiful. I applied crude lines to the face in order<br />
to capture ugliness and beauty at the same time. In<br />
this case I drew the lines with my eyes closed.<br />
Your <strong>Lewes</strong> show is called I Am Autism. I take<br />
it you are autistic and this affects your work…<br />
I am classed as having high-functioning autism<br />
and Asperger’s. I believe autism is an evolutionary<br />
shift that is occurring under everybody’s noses.<br />
That autism is nature refining itself. I’m trying to<br />
make my autism a positive for the planet. And I am<br />
also using my autism in my art to give me a unique<br />
angle to break into the world.<br />
Is your work informed by any other artists?<br />
Nature is my favourite artist, let’s face it. We may<br />
try, but we can never paint a butterfly as beautiful<br />
as it is. Of course I admire Picasso, Paul Klee,<br />
Klimt. I don’t even like to look at their work it’s<br />
so good. Tony Boyson - I’m lucky enough to<br />
have one of his on my wall. And Dawn Stacey,<br />
from <strong>Lewes</strong>; the depth she captures by depicting<br />
two-dimensional images of landscape, and her use<br />
of colour.<br />
Do you have a studio? Do you work in silence?<br />
I’m poor, I couldn’t afford a studio. I live in a small<br />
flat in London thanks to the National Autistic Society,<br />
and I splatter paint on everything. On knives<br />
and forks, on my clothes, on the walls… I have to<br />
paint. I work, and live, in absolute silence. There’s<br />
a convent opposite my flat, it must be the quietest<br />
street in London.<br />
What message are you giving out with your<br />
art? Art has many messages. I like to paint. People<br />
like to put art on their walls. Art will move forward<br />
as we develop as a species… but it is still people<br />
daubing on cave walls. There are more colours to<br />
the human race than meets the eye. Alex Leith<br />
I Am Autism, Stable Gallery, Paddock Art Studios,<br />
10th-11th <strong>December</strong>, 12-8pm, free entry<br />
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