Artist Statement
"I consider myself a ‘Fusionist’ because I merge styles that inspire me, while playing with the fusion of East and West. I combine orientalism and primitivism with western cubist principles to create bold, vibrant images.
"I am influenced by the pattern-making of Gustav Klimt and the highly stylised figures of Tom Wesselman and Alex Katz, as well as Rainer Fetting’s use of bold colour and gestural brushstrokes. Japanese woodblock have also inspired me, while the decisive curves of Matisse are clearly recognisable in my work. Acrylic paint allows a fast pace of work with spontaneous gestures and bold brushstrokes, where transparent washes can precede bold colours to create depth and vibrancy."
​
More About Amanda
​
Amanda Watt was born in Northern Ireland in 1960. Moving around a lot as a child between towns and countryside, drawing remained the one constant in her life. She graduated with a BA Hons from the Belfast College of Art and Design in 1982, and immediately left for the bustling London art scene. After three years, she was given an opportunity by one of her collectors to move to Los Angeles, where she spent the next twenty years building a successful career as an artist.
​
Amanda’s work was well-known on the California art scene, with annual exhibitions spanning over ten years at Timothy Yarger Fine art in Beverley Hills, as well as Bowles/Sorokko Galleries in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Her bright, vibrant interior scenes and semi-abstract figurative and landscape paintings became a staple of Californian society, with key collectors including casino mogul Steve Wynn, award-winning film director Barry Levinson and former producer and now successful fashion designer Marla Ginsburg.
​
Now back in her native Ireland, Amanda's work is imbued with a new energy as she exhibits widely across the UK and Ireland.
​​
