STATEMENT

For more than thirty years I have made paintings and sculptures that explore the relationship between people, place, history and material. Although the subjects and forms have changed over time, a common thread runs throughout my practice: a fascination with the traces people leave behind and the ways in which meaning emerges through a dialogue between experience, thought and making.

My work begins with immersion. Whether walking a landscape, exploring a city, handling archaeological material or engaging with a particular field of knowledge, I learn through direct experience, observation and participation. Understanding develops through encounter. The act of making becomes a way of investigating the world, reflecting upon it and discovering my place within it.

Early encounters with alchemy, semiotics and postmodern thought have remained influential throughout my career. What interested me was not theory for its own sake, but the possibility that objects, images and materials could be transformed through context and perception. This fascination with transformation continues to shape my work.

I am drawn to objects, images and materials that carry traces of human experience. Whether archaeological finds, discarded objects or found images, such things are never fixed in meaning. They connect us to lives, stories and histories that can never be fully known, yet continue to resonate through their encounter with the present.

These materials often become the starting point for paintings and assemblages. Through a process of observation, experimentation and reflection, they become vehicles for exploring memory, belonging and human experience. Layers of paint are poured, splattered, scraped and sanded back, creating surfaces shaped by both intention and chance. Meaning emerges through the interaction of material, process and imagination.

While my work is grounded in observation and material enquiry, it is equally shaped by curiosity, imagination and a sense of wonder. I am drawn to places, objects and histories, and to the traces of human experience embedded within them. These encounters are not simply research; they are ways of understanding the world through presence and participation.

At its heart, my practice is concerned with the humanity contained within things. Through painting and sculpture, I seek to create works that emerge from encounter, observation and imagination, connecting material experience with the stories, histories and meanings that continue to resonate through the present.

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Bartle is a Sheffield and Istanbul-based artist.

Over a career spanning more than thirty years, he has worked across painting, sculpture, installation and collaborative practice, exhibiting widely throughout the UK and internationally. His work has been presented in public and commercial galleries, biennials, artist residencies and site-specific contexts.

Bartle studied Fine Art at Bretton Hall College and completed postgraduate study at Sheffield Hallam University. He is a founder and manager of Bloc Studios and the former founder and director of Bloc Projects in Sheffield, organisations that have played a significant role in supporting contemporary art and artists in the region.

Periods spent living and working in Türkiye have informed his international perspective, leading to exhibitions, projects and collaborations that have connected his practice to diverse cultural contexts.

Recent projects have included collaborations with archaeologists, heritage organisations and museums, including work developed in response to artefacts excavated from Sheffield Castle.

He lives and works between Sheffield and Istanbul.