The Visionary PhotoArt of Tony Pinfold

I've been an artist since 1983 and in that time I have produced 100's of images from basic web graphics to New age cd and book covers, my  photography work has also been published in many U.K magazines. My life has changed much  in the past 3years and if I ever have reason to dwell on my 40 years before that it seems like I'm thinking of a different person. To put it bluntly as a child I was a shy loner full of dreams, as a young man up until I turned 40 I was an unfocused fool trapped by my own mind full of fear, doubt and ego desires, I was totally enchanted by the material world. Now I have come to realize that my past of self imposed mental suffering, has help created the person I am now and the work i do. It is my hope that via my art others may find a small level of mental freedom, peace and empowerment in a world that is driven by a media that seeks to do the complete opposite . 

Here is a very brief history of my past, I touch on just a few key points in my life which have change my path and helped shape me. I was born in 1966 in the borough of Middlesex, England and for the first 10 years of my life I was a only child. My parents were attentive and loving, it was not until I went to school I began to realize what a cruel and hateful world some choose to live in. I have always been blessed with unique and honed imagination so I dreamed much of my school time away. As a teenager I learned to become a playground jester, saving me from break-time beatings which were so often handed out by those that enjoy negativity. It would be true to say I dislike school with a passion but now I understand it helped shape the person I am today. Art, my favourite subject, was a place of deep frustration in those days as I was never able to express myself, constantly tied down by the need to learn over the desire to create. I still to this day believe that artists learn best by doing what they want not being forced to create things they can not identify with.

I've been drawing / painting for as long as I can remember, but I was around 21 when  it became a passion for me. At that time I discovered my then favourite media - acrylics. Like everything I do I started painting in my own style with very little regard to rules and convention. During the years that followed, I poured all my energy into painting holding a few local exhibitions in libraries and alike. One day I  finally met a girl who got me and I fell deeply in love, for just under one year I was very happy but then I experienced 'being dumped' that mental destroyed me at the time and the replays of that event scared my mind for well over ten years (effecting my view of love well into my marriage). I now see I was a fool to get trapped in a circle of bitterness self-pity and loss. I thank the person for the time we shared and only wish her the best where ever she may be.

  In 1993 I got married to my long suffering wife (lol) Therese who has endured my emotional rollercoaster and supported me in ventures that most never would. I know that much of my life as an artist has only been possible because of her deep faith in me. In the same year we married we moved to America for what I thought at the time was for good. Once there I toyed with various art forms, and discovered the realm of computers, I soon began to realize their massive potential. I brought my first PC in Bellevue (Washington) and my life change forever. I joined the Seattle Art's Institute in the same year studying DTP. While it did teach me a greater understanding of computers and graphic programs, my hunger once again for creativity was not fed.

4 years later I returned to live in the UK while I enjoyed America, at the time I was a totally unable to settle. After a few years of ups and downs I finally became a full time 'starving' freelance artist. I began to focused more and more on photography and soon found myself in glamour, shooting wannabe models for freelance projects and a agency I helped start. It was fun and exciting trying to help young women create an image that would make them 'big' in this  'glamorous' industry but after a while I became disillusioned, my ego had thought like the girls that this would bring big money and fame in fact I was losing money hand over fist I have to admit I was naïve about the world of Glamour. People will always perceive the life of glamour model or photographer in a certain way the truth is far more boring I can assure you. See my blog 'my time as a glamour photographer' for more on this.

I had tried to build a  'dream' job for myself and spent a small fortune on equipment, props and studios etc and I had found just another empty experience, I was lost and to top it off I had just turned 40  what was the point of it all. The consent struggle for short term happiness that never really replaced the underling long term emptiness. Then one day in late 2006 I unintentionally created my first visionary art work an image called 'Oppressed' This Dark and Sinister work seem to sum up my depressing and lack filled life. Little did I know that this image would become a icon of hope for me and a starting point to an awakening that life was not as i had perceived it. See my blog 'How it all started' For much more on this