David Kerfoot

I am a designer with a 30 year plus history in many award winning design consultancies and advertising agencies in and around London, including Addison and Smith & Milton.

As well as my daytime job I have volunteered with an arts charity as marketing officer. Squeaky Door took Shakespeare’s The Tempest to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for two years running, in addition to many other productions. More recently I am helping the Upper Usk Valley Rural Alliance with their website and social media.

Working as a graphic designer often includes commissioning and art directing illustrators and photographers. This gives you an insight into their processes, working methods and requirements. I found this fascinating.

Like many designers I chose this path because I could draw. My fine art work tends towards the photography and print disciplines. I photograph landscapes and natural forms because that it what interests me. The work is often converted to black and white and only slightly edited. With other works I like to create a linocut graphic effect using software techniques. I have found that this works better on relatively complicated subjects because it creates textures.

Artists who inspire me often use bold, abstract shapes and colours. They include Lucien Freud,  David Hockney, Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko. My favourite photographers include Ansel Adams, Terry Donovan, Nick Knight, Benoit Paillé, Rankin and Peter Zownir.

I generally look after the design and editing of the BritArt Sales website.

Mary Kerfoot

My work as a commercial interior designer has involved collating artworks for restaurant and office environments. I feel that while art should compliment and work within an interior, it shouldn’t be seen as just an accessory. Good art within a space should stand on its own merits and add another dimension to its location. My interest in strong images and love of narrative around a piece of art highlighted a need for a website promoting and selling original art and prints to a wider public. 

My eye is drawn to a bold use of colour that draws the viewer in to look more closely at the detail and texture of an image. I enjoy the story behind the art, particularly if it lends emotion to a piece, but can also appreciate that sometimes it’s just a damn fine image. 

I admire portrait artists who are bold and experimental, such as Jenny Saville and Lucien Freud, while also loving the more restrained work of Margaret Foreman. Our location in the Brecon Beacons has definitely sparked an interest in landscapes which has melded with my love of detail and the natural form. Print makers such as Lesley Lillywhite and Kath Littler reflect for me the diverse interpretations that can be applied to reflect the world around us. 

Passion

We hold a strong belief in the importance of the position of art within our environment to enrich and inform our emotional world.  We make the effort to engage with the artists and creatives featured on our website, to know them personally, in order to present their work to the utmost advantage. This approach also extends to our engagement with potential art buyers. We are here to advise and assist wherever possible with the procurement process.  

To help promote and support the artists we do not charge up front or monthly fees (unlike most art sales websites).  We only take our fee when a sale is made. Young artists especially find this very helpful indeed.

We aim to bring new and young talent to the attention of art buyers and patrons of the arts. Nothing would please us more than for one of our artists to meet with success, be it small or huge. We also enjoy and applaud the achievements of our more established creatives.

At the moment we have quite a select group of creatives featured but it is our plan to grow this into a much larger stable. This will give homeowners, restaurateurs, hoteliers, businesses and art lovers more of a selection to pick from. It is not our aim to curate a select or themed gallery, nor to try to define what is or is not art. Ruskin had that covered but the debate may still have legs.

If you would like us to add a service, suggest an artist or have a question, please get in touch here.