This September, John Squire exhibits work at The Dazed Gallery that confirms him as a powerful and intense abstract artist in the vein of the Pollock and Rothko. The Stone Roses were arguably one of the last bands to have a truly phenomenal impact upon British culture and it was without doubt co-founder Squire's Pollock-inspired record sleeves that endowed them with their powerful visual identity. Squire has come a long way as a painter since those early days, an artistic period he now sees almost as being that of another person. "I was thrashing around with no real context, enjoying an art form that actually pre-dated my birth," he explains. "I now better understand some of the impulses that drove the people I admired when I first started painting." It is fair to say that Squire is now an artist fully immersed in his practice, spending countless hours alone in his studio pursuing an obsessive compulsion to paint and create complex art in a variety of mediums. Below is an excerpt from our recent interview with him, the full version of which is available in the September issue of Dazed & Confused...

Dazed Digital: Is this the most honest form of communication you can achieve?
John Squire: I feel it's one of the purest art forms. It doesn't preach, it's ambiguous and it can be elemental if you get it right – a blank canvas is both an exciting prospect and a genuine responsibility.

DD: Almost like a postcard from the soul waiting to be written?
JS: I think that's what's going on. Maybe in the past I used it as a substitute for speech – I wasn't the loudest kid at school but I did draw a lot. If that is a continuing thing then maybe it is some sort of cry – a cry of love perhaps – that's really a deeper discussion though... I don't know what good it will have done once the world itself has been incinerated.

DD: Do you get a sense of freedom in the process that takes you beyond yourself? Are those moments something you strive for?
JS: Those are the high points. I do get completely lost in the work, it's like having an ability to step outside of time. I don't know whether time stands still in my studio or races ahead but I've got no real concept of it. I'm striving to make great work, to squeeze the universe into a rectangle – just to get close to that in the manner originally intended, without making too many diversions, is a real accomplishment.

DD: Would you ever consider exhibiting anonymously?
JS: The thought has crossed my mind but that would be a denial. It's even more of a challenge this way round, to have the work accepted despite the fact that it's been made by a musician. These shows are really the first that I am going to have to seriously edit, so I imagine we will see afterwards if there are barriers out there.

John Squire Private View – Thursday Sept 6 from 7-9pm (sponsored by Tiger Beer)

For more information contact johnpaul@dazedgroup.com