Billy Bagilhole is a contemporary painter from Wales, celebrated for his unique blend of traditional techniques and modern themes. Born in 1994, he spent much of his childhood on Welsh farms and in the forgotten Spanish settings of spaghetti westerns. These early experiences profoundly influenced his work, inspiring the animals and cowboy imagery that frequently appear in his pieces.
Bagilhole's attraction to painting stems from his ability to create the unknown, the unimaginable, and the uncanny, fostering a sense of bewilderment. His works often collide colour with sinister imagery, leaving open questions and unknown metaphors that invite infinite interpretations. Through recurring themes such as the often-seen fish bones, his character "Edwin," and the bull, Bagilhole hints at connections between these seemingly disparate elements.
He believes that humans are inherently curious, and that the pursuit of art offers an expression of this curious nature. For Bagilhole, making art becomes a medium for wonder, an unsolvable sensory mystery that engages both artist and viewer.
Billy Bagilhole in his studio
Q : Could you tell us about when you originally got into painting?
A : I've always been interested in painting ever since I was a young boy because my father was an artist. His name was Robin Bagilhole (he specialised in screen printing & painting, he also taught at Central St Martins) and he sadly passed away when I was 6 years old, but me and my sister were left with floods of his incredible work around the house - which lead to years of crucial inspiration and has shaped the path that I wanted to take. When I was 18, I decided to do an art foundation course in Bangor, North Wales and ever since then I haven't looked back. It's somehow felt like it's always been in my DNA and it’s an integral way for me to process many aspects of my life. I look at the practice as much more than an exploration of aesthetics and design, although important... It's the act of digging up parts of my subconscious and channelling my focus into an almost meditative state that really interests me. Often, the end product is a complete mystery to me, and it sometimes takes me years to process a painting. More often than not, it helps me understand my own emotions and whatever I was going through at the time, but I love to relish in that mystery. Sometimes the less I know, the better.
Q: What is the starting place for your work? And how does the process of creation usually look like for you?
A: Recently I've been trying to adapt my practice a little because typically, it's complete chaos. I'll sometimes just throw a cup of black coffee on the canvas and go from there, following the paint. But recently, for this new body of work I wanted to have more of an anchor within the piece and to slow down my process so I decided to commit myself to drawing 50 ideas/sketches before I allowed myself to paint. I would then whittle that down to 10 or so ideas that I was confident in. To not allow myself to paint was to try and create some form of tension for myself as usually I can't wait to get to the canvas. I'm trying to hone in on patience because it's something I've skipped in my work in the past. Typically, when it would become time to paint, I'd have 5-10 canvases around the room and I would jump around from canvas to canvas. With this body of work, I turned every canvas to face the wall apart from the one I would be concentrating on and then I would spend time comprehending the finite details and trying to see where the emotion of that piece is going and working out how to contrast that or to add towards it. By having these 'anchors', these preliminary sketches that are solidified blueprints for each piece, I was able to create a consistent body of work that to me felt like an exploration of this new subconscious world. Each piece is like a still from the same film.
'Battle of The Swans' 2024
Q: What inspires your work?
A: Typically, I would say my day-to-day life, I have an interest in conveying the mundane but in a dramatic light. A deep dive into the cracks between the humdrum of daily life. Whether that be the arguing couple in the bus stop, or the old woman that I saw a few weeks back drop a pack of opened cooked prawns on the floor of the bus stop and then proceed to eat them. These small little aspects of life fascinate me, and I think they just sit there in the back of my brain. When I paint, I don't outwardly think of these instances, but these strangers and these interactions make their way into the work. I have a fascination with people and the mystery of life. So, without being overly cliché, I would say that inspiration is all around us and you never know when it's going to get you, but it's keeping my eyes and ears present and open that allows for it to come into my life. David Lynch said when coming up with ideas, it's like fishing. You won't be able to catch an idea if your rod is not in the water.
Q: We see symbolism and repeated imagery and characters in your works, could you tell us a little about their significance?
I've always had these recurring symbols, characters and even colours that creep in and out of my work. I think a lot of my painting is a reflection of nostalgia and I tend to cling onto certain things that have meaning to me. For example, if you see a pint of Guinness in my work, it was my dad’s favourite drink and we had this fake plastic Guinness pint in the living room of our house growing up. It always reminded me of him, and it always sat in this crevice in the wall, so I'd have to go out of my way to see it. This is just a small example out of a hundred others. But I guess a lot of it is like hoarding memories and symbolising them. Certain symbols mean certain things to me. Some are attached to happy memories, some are attached to grief and to sad ones, and some I'm unfamiliar with but they somehow weave in this continuous theme in my work because everything relates. I've had a character called ‘Edwin’ recurring in my work ever since I was around 17 years old. I've never told anyone the origin of where the name comes from, but I'm keeping that mystery close to my chest. You'll see him sometimes appear in and out of paintings, a gaunt young boy with black hair.
Q: What kind of themes do you explore in your creative practice?
A: I would say it's mostly an exploration of self-discovery. I turn to painting as a form of processing. For this body of work, I was looking in particular at trying to focus on my feelings and memories of growing up in a slightly withering provincial seaside town in North Wales. I drew real memories and then I drew ideas from fantasy, based on my feelings as I reacted to certain things. For example, I printed out about 80 images of certain things for my wall in the studio above my study desk. Some of those images were of hay bales, lonesome cows, men falling, cans of special K-Cider, spiders in jars, wild boars, people laying in fields, breakfast bap vans and old sailing boats. A lot of these seem random, but they are attached to certain seeds of memories that could spark ideas for me. After finding that spark, I would draw an idea that could be quite arbitrary and when I eventually took it to the canvas, other symbols, colours and elements that I don't expect came into play.
Q: What experience do you hope the viewer has with your work?
A: A lot of what I have mentioned above I imagine can make the work seem very personal, which it is, as they are often quite intimate emotions and that are not always easy to share. But I believe that us as humans share quite a lot of similar life experiences, whether it is grief or heartbreak - for example. I'd hope that the viewer can find their own peace within the work. That they can find something that can help them to process a similar feeling or life experience. It doesn't have to be like for like, but if it helps someone as an abstract concept and triggers a feeling or an emotion that helps them to see something, I then feel a sense of achievement because the painting has been successful in relaying a real emotion.
For more information or to register your interest in Bagilhole's work, please email info@rhodescontemporaryart.com
