Terence Colin Kneale
Terence Colin Kneale’s practice emerged from photography but now centers on abstract expressionism. After working as a professional photographer for twelve years, Kneale began testing new techniques during the COVID period and found a visual direction that gave him greater freedom with color, form, and movement. The resulting work translates observed images into expressive abstractions rather than reproducing them directly.
Kneale grew up surrounded by art, literature, and writing. His mother was a gifted artist, and he remembers being able to draw closely from observation from an early age. His formal art education was limited to primary school, though a 2010 Diploma in Photography provided technical training and led to his professional career behind the camera.
Photography continues to inform how Kneale looks. He describes experimenting across genres in order to master the camera, a process that developed the attentiveness now central to his abstract work. He can work in the studio or outdoors, noticing visual details that others may pass by. A specific color, shape, or natural form may become the starting point for a composition.
Jackson Pollock is a key reference. Kneale responds to the free-flowing quality of Pollock’s paintings, while developing his own approach through a different medium and set of visual concerns. He does not organize the work around a fixed sequence of motifs. Instead, he uses images and observations to build a personal form of abstract expressionism.
Nature is the central source. Kneale’s work draws on the beauty of the environment and aims to encourage reflection on environmental issues and the need to protect conditions for future generations. He describes his purpose simply as creating art from nature, using abstraction to retain its energy rather than illustrate it literally.
For Kneale, a typical creative day begins with anticipation. He does not describe creative blocks as a regular obstacle, crediting a process of freeing the mind and remaining open to making. His first two major works were particularly demanding and took the longest to complete, but they remain among the most rewarding pieces in his collection.
Success is not measured by income alone. Kneale places greater value on the emotional impact a work can have on both artist and viewer. He prefers to make work without pressure, following the freedom of the process rather than external trends or expectations.
A commitment to health, discipline, and persistence supports that practice. Kneale advises emerging artists to identify the genre they care about most and develop it with focus. He is currently preparing several new minimalist works, extending an ongoing exploration of abstraction, color, and the visual possibilities of the natural world.
