British Artist Tom Bagshaw Showcases A Saint

Based in the Georgian city of Bath, England, Tom Bagshaw works as an illustrator under the moniker Mostlywanted. His commercial work is commissioned worldwide for a wide range of clients, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sony, the BBC, GQ and Scholastic to name a few.

For his personal work he has developed a highly rendered digital painting style through which he explores themes of fantasy, beauty and mysticism. While is work deals with imaginative content, it also aims for a strong level of realism in its presentation. Although feminine beauty plays a large role in his work, the women he depicts are never frail damsels in distress. More often than not they’re strong, intriguing characters, with an air of mystery to them.

 1xRUN Thru Interview

 All the Devils by Tom Bagshaw

1xRun: When was this piece created?   

Tom Bagshaw:  This piece was created at the end of 2010

1xRun: Tell us how the idea and execution came about?          

Tom Bagshaw:  This was actually a piece done for the PornSaints group, I was approached by them to produce a piece and was introduced to a model/performer Lila Night, then I produced the painting from there. I took the line ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are here’ from Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and it kinda grew from there.

1xRun: How long did the piece take?  

Tom Bagshaw:   I can’t remember as I was working on other stuff at the time, but i think the final painting took a few days.

1xRun: What is unique about this piece?         

Tom Bagshaw:  Its one of few pieces where I had a model to work with!

Lila Night

1xRun: Why should people buy this print?          

Tom Bagshaw:  It would look great on the wall!

1xRun: Describe the piece in one gut reaction word.        

Tom Bagshaw:  Horny.

Run #00241 // All The Devils by Tom Bagshaw// May 30, 2012 - Jun 05, 2012

1xRun: When did you first start making art?    

Tom Bagshaw:  My earliest memories are of drawing and painting. I’ve been doing it ever since.

1xRun: What was your first piece?      

Tom Bagshaw:  My first piece that I ever drew and was a picture of a Peregrine Falcon when I was probably 5 or 6?

1xRun: What artists inspired you early on?      

Tom Bagshaw:    Ive always been inspired by figurative work and was drawn to artists like Ingres, Courbet and the Pre-Raphaelites.

Millais - Christ In The House of His Parents

1xRun: What artists inspire you now?

Tom Bagshaw: I’m still inspired by artists whose work is mainly figurative but i also love character driven works, design, typography. There’s so many amazing artists working with different techniques and subjects, it’s hard not to be inspired!

1xRun: Do you listen to music while you work? If so what? If not then what is your environment like when you work?

Tom Bagshaw:  My workspace is pretty minimal, I work out of a tiny room in our house which is just a little bigger than my desk — but that is an advantage of working digitally, I don’t need much room.  Although a large studio would be great and i would probably feel more inclined to pick up a paintbrush again!

1xRun: If you could collaborate with any artist who would it be and why?        

Tom Bagshaw:  Collabs really don’t interest me.. don’t know why- I must be the odd one out on this but its never appealed to me.              

1xRun: What was the last piece of art that you bought?           

Tom Bagshaw:  The latest addition was a fantastic piece called Hibernation by Jason Edmiston– amazing artist and all round nice chap!

Hibernation by Jason Edmiston

1xRun: What else do you have in the works?

Tom Bagshaw:   Ive got a few shows coming up throughout the rest of the year and a solo at Corey Helford Gallery next year, I’m also working on a series of pieces inspired by traditional gypsy girl style tattoo art–these will be a bit different as they aren’t for galleries (at least most aren’t) and will be sold direct as either mounted and framed small editions of 3 or as limited edition print runs.

1xRun:  Where can people find you across the internette?

Tom Bagshaw: WebsiteFacebook – Twitter – @tombagshaw – Instagram @tombagshaw

-1xRUN