The Wilkes Partnership has recently purchased a selection of artwork from Midlands-based artist Elliott Packham to hang in their Birmingham Office.
Elliott started to create art at school and fell in love with it while completing his A Levels. There, he discovered his distinctive technique of using acrylic paint and masking tape to produce his large-scale pieces. After some time away from art whilst attending university, Elliott picked the paintbrush back up four years ago and rediscovered his passion for creating artwork. This led to his first art exhibition, Birmingham Open Studios, at his studio in The Old Print Works in Balsall Heath. It was there that Elliott got the idea to turn his paintings into prints.
Elliott’s paintings are based on real buildings he has visited and been inspired by. As a fan of clean and modern design, Elliott finds inspiration in buildings from the post-war era of the mid/late 1950s to the mid/late 1970s with structural forms of brutalism. Elliott wants to understand and see how a building has been constructed rather than a polished structure as the end result. This is mirrored in his pieces which are clean and unfussy with geometric patterns. Each painting is painted on large MDF boards which reflect the sheer size and scale of the buildings from which he takes inspiration.
Growing up, Elliott was always a perfectionist and after discovering the tower block paintings by David Hepher, the idea to combine technical drawing with acrylic paint came to him. Each painting starts as a technical architectural drawing where the dimensions of each element are meticulously planned out. Next, each strip and piece of masking tape is put onto the MDF board with three to four layers of acrylic and then applied before unmasking and masking the next layer. Each painting takes hundreds of hours of dedication to produce.
Elliott comments: “It has been a pleasure working with the team at The Wilkes Partnership. When Gareth first contacted me, it was a pleasant surprise to hear from a law firm interested in purchasing my prints. I think it shows great corporate social responsibility from the firm by engaging and supporting a local artist and the wider community and it sets an example for others.”
Gareth O’Hara, Senior Partner at The Wilkes Partnership said: “The firm and I would like to thank Elliott for taking the time to meet with us and for providing prints of his fantastic paintings that are now hanging in the office. It has been wonderful working with a local artist and we are looking forward to seeing what he produces next.”
You can view some of Elliott’s original paintings at Lux Gallery Edgbaston. His new upcoming piece will be included in the RBSA Summer Exhibition from Thursday 15th June until Saturday 22nd July 2023. Find out more about Elliott and his other upcoming events here.
