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02:01 Henry Glover: No Hard Feelings
Early in 2023 I visited Henry at his Studio in Bermondsey south London. I’ve known off his work for a long time as our interests overlap, yet this was the first time we had sat down to chat in person. Shortly after this talk we showed work together at the Ohsh Projects show ‘Checkmate’ which was great fun. During our chat we discussed the role of narrative in painting, and the cross overs between sculpture, drawing and painting. We talked about honesty and teenage angst and if any of that has a place in art. Enjoy.
Mark Bletcher,
Artist and co-founder of Minutes.
No Hard Feelings, 2023, Oil, soft pastel, oil pastel and charcoal on canvas - 140x120cm
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00:00
Mark
What is the painting called?
Henry
This painting’s called No Hard Feelings. It’s quite literally about the essence of the phrase ‘no hard feelings’. The painting’s about when two people are struggling to understand one another, dealing with heartache, longing, Etc. I’ve placed this castle in the middle and it has two doors, they are the two people. This whole painting has this quite literal, infantile symbolism. It’s quite on the nose, but at the same time, it’s trying to express the feelings of the work through how it’s made and how it’s painted. It’s less about the pictorial elements like the castle, the chains, or the hearts, if that makes sense.
Mark
Yeah, I get that. You said earlier that your new stuff feels ‘breezier’ -and that It’s fun to make, can you explain that?
Henry
Um, yeah. I've tried to keep the drawing elements in the work for as long as possible without painting them out. So, part of it is being loose with how I make the work, but also, it helps to, in that looseness, to keep it engaging, but also to keep it clear what's going on. So, it's not a solid image, but it's dynamic. - and because of the difference in materials the painting has different levels, so things draw you in and play with the eye in different places. So, it's busy.
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Mark
And you're quite into Medievalism? I really like how you mix flatness with a sense of depth. I can see icons, like the heart and the castle – but you mix this very simple imagery with more complicated story telling elements, and that all comes through in the actual paint, like this bottom right-hand corner. In this area you can feel the narrative told though paint, and it’s very angsty.
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Henry
It is. Yeah, this is the point of turmoil. This is the encroaching inevitability, or the inevitable heartache. But, going back to what you're saying about the icons and symbolism, and that sort of thing, I find it quite liberating to look at medieval work, particularly illuminated manuscripts, for how they construct the images. But also, how they pinpoint the story, or the characters that are most important. In a sense this painting is doing that but in a totally stripped-down simplified way – whilst also being extremely expressive in the way that it’s painted.
It's… what’s the word?
…unstable.
Mark
You don’t often get expressive technique in medieval works; the artist is often unimportant.
Henry
Yeah, this is something that I have a real focus on - keeping the maker’s hand in the work to bring about honesty, but also bring you insight into the process. There is no hierarchy. I don’t want the works to be transcending into some sort of great place. I want to be quite immediate and relatable. And maybe that's why I've drawn this so loose. The castle’s a bit wonky. The hearts are like stickers, they are not trying to be anatomical. It’s quite hyper pop or, like, glitzy, and the hearts have got all these sparkles and this glow.
![]()
Mark
‘Honesty’ is in interesting word. Is honesty a big theme in your work?
Henry
So, the titles are always self-referential or kind of like, about things I'm going through, but then I'll nick song lyrics or stuff that I'm listening to at that point, and it will all coalesce into one place. I don't want to elevate the work, I want to elevate normal, simple, everyday things. But in this kind of vague sense where you don't really know how to get pen to paper about it. You wouldn't be able to explain this feeling in person to your friend - but it’s able to be captured like this in a painting. Yeah - that's the way I access it, and that's what I want to access. I want the works to show those moments, those quiet unsaid moments - or the threatening parts of life that you don't really want to deal with or can’t really express well, or struggle too.
Mark
I think I said teenage angst earlier –
Henry
Absolutely, it’s teenage angst.
Mark
No matter what age you are, you have teenage angst.
Henry
Yep, always.
Mark
And often, in painting, the concept of teenage angst is brushed over, or turned into something else. But I love how this painting says ‘no, there still always is teenage angst.’
Henry
Yeah, yeah, this is an emo painting, actually. And I think when I take references from history, or medieval antiquity, or whatever - that's because it's got this distance, this sense of mythology or fairy-tale-ness to it. It's that vagueness, that kind of storytelling, that becomes a way to kind of clamp down on these strange and obscure feelings, if that makes sense?
Mark
It does. Does that castle in the painting come from any particular story? Because my brain goes straight to Kafka’s Castle.
Henry
It’s whatever you want it to be. This is THE castle. The castle I think of when you say castle. A long tower, a couple of keeps. I try keep it simple, when you say castle, what is that synonymous with?
Mark
It looks like the castle from Shrek, Kafka, most fantasy castles.
Henry
And it’s thunder yellow. So it could be a sand castle.
![]()
Mark
Are these flames? Or mountains? (…) I guess ‘both’ is the answer?
Henry
Well, you know what – yeah, it’s both. The top is loosely ‘the sky’ and the bottoms is loosely ‘the earth’, and there’s all these little peaks, used to unsettle the landscape, keep it all moving. It’s swirling around, because it’s about the phrase ‘no hard feelings’, its not about a landscape or place.
Mark
The painting also reminds me of the Greek myth where Orpheus ventures into the underworld to bring back his wife, on the condition he did not look back at her before he climbs out, and obviously he does, and she turns to ash. It’s very romantic, tragic, very emo, and very sad. But this painting reminds me of that, because of these little hearts slowly descending or delving into the hellfire -
![]()
Drawing for No Hard Feelings
Henry
Yeah, they drift into the dark, towards the black area. And the chains, they are more graphic at the top and becomes faded further down.
Mark
Wow, I love that. You can see the chain fold in on itself and become a pattern. It goes from symbol, or drawing, and then slowly disappears to become pattern and paint.
Henry
Yeah, I'm really pleased with how this came together. Purely from a maker’s point of view, I used soft pastel, oil pastel and oil paint. And normally it's really hard to keep all those elements together, without one dominating the other. And in this painting I’ve really allowed them to complement each other. There’s soft pastel. The more iridescent areas on the hearts are oil pastel. And there’s a lot of charcoal going on along the bottom, its all been rubbed.
Mark
The oil pastel on the heart gives a waxy texture. It appears very separate from everything else.
Henry
Yeah. I guess, the hearts reflect the title of the painting ‘no hard feelings’, so at certain places elements join together and at other places they separate.
Mark
One final question, you do a lot of sculpture?
Henry
Yes
![]()
One bite and all your dreams will come true! - Glazed Stoneware, 17x10cm, 2022
Mark
How do you work in both sculpture and paint? Do you pull objects from your paintings, such as the castle?
Henry
Yes. So, the way I work is cyclical. So, I’ll make sculptures that change into paintings and vice-versa. I keep them within their own territory at first, I work with a constant loop of ideas. The same works are being made over and over until I get them where I want them to be. But then, eventually, I pull the objects out. I’ll likely pull that castle out, maybe even the hearts? The way I make them, its quite quick to get the initial form down, but then over the course of a few days I’ll sculpt and shave off areas .
Mark
Is this process kind of like you're sketching? Do you sketch much? Or do you use this kind of cyclical process?
Henry
I sketch straight onto the canvas, I sometimes... I should sketch more…
Mark
Do you feel like you use the clay as a way towards sketching?
Henry
I guess so? I guess it's all different kinds of problem solving. They are all working to the same end. They are all figuring out similar ideas. But yeah… I’ll paint and sculpt at the same time, it's a constant dialog.
![]()
Grotesque Mask, Glazed Stoneware, 19x14.5cm, 2022
What is the painting called?
Henry
This painting’s called No Hard Feelings. It’s quite literally about the essence of the phrase ‘no hard feelings’. The painting’s about when two people are struggling to understand one another, dealing with heartache, longing, Etc. I’ve placed this castle in the middle and it has two doors, they are the two people. This whole painting has this quite literal, infantile symbolism. It’s quite on the nose, but at the same time, it’s trying to express the feelings of the work through how it’s made and how it’s painted. It’s less about the pictorial elements like the castle, the chains, or the hearts, if that makes sense.
Mark
Yeah, I get that. You said earlier that your new stuff feels ‘breezier’ -and that It’s fun to make, can you explain that?
Henry
Um, yeah. I've tried to keep the drawing elements in the work for as long as possible without painting them out. So, part of it is being loose with how I make the work, but also, it helps to, in that looseness, to keep it engaging, but also to keep it clear what's going on. So, it's not a solid image, but it's dynamic. - and because of the difference in materials the painting has different levels, so things draw you in and play with the eye in different places. So, it's busy.
Mark
And you're quite into Medievalism? I really like how you mix flatness with a sense of depth. I can see icons, like the heart and the castle – but you mix this very simple imagery with more complicated story telling elements, and that all comes through in the actual paint, like this bottom right-hand corner. In this area you can feel the narrative told though paint, and it’s very angsty.
Henry
It is. Yeah, this is the point of turmoil. This is the encroaching inevitability, or the inevitable heartache. But, going back to what you're saying about the icons and symbolism, and that sort of thing, I find it quite liberating to look at medieval work, particularly illuminated manuscripts, for how they construct the images. But also, how they pinpoint the story, or the characters that are most important. In a sense this painting is doing that but in a totally stripped-down simplified way – whilst also being extremely expressive in the way that it’s painted.
It's… what’s the word?
…unstable.
Mark
You don’t often get expressive technique in medieval works; the artist is often unimportant.
Henry
Yeah, this is something that I have a real focus on - keeping the maker’s hand in the work to bring about honesty, but also bring you insight into the process. There is no hierarchy. I don’t want the works to be transcending into some sort of great place. I want to be quite immediate and relatable. And maybe that's why I've drawn this so loose. The castle’s a bit wonky. The hearts are like stickers, they are not trying to be anatomical. It’s quite hyper pop or, like, glitzy, and the hearts have got all these sparkles and this glow.
Mark
‘Honesty’ is in interesting word. Is honesty a big theme in your work?
Henry
So, the titles are always self-referential or kind of like, about things I'm going through, but then I'll nick song lyrics or stuff that I'm listening to at that point, and it will all coalesce into one place. I don't want to elevate the work, I want to elevate normal, simple, everyday things. But in this kind of vague sense where you don't really know how to get pen to paper about it. You wouldn't be able to explain this feeling in person to your friend - but it’s able to be captured like this in a painting. Yeah - that's the way I access it, and that's what I want to access. I want the works to show those moments, those quiet unsaid moments - or the threatening parts of life that you don't really want to deal with or can’t really express well, or struggle too.
Mark
I think I said teenage angst earlier –
Henry
Absolutely, it’s teenage angst.
Mark
No matter what age you are, you have teenage angst.
Henry
Yep, always.
Mark
And often, in painting, the concept of teenage angst is brushed over, or turned into something else. But I love how this painting says ‘no, there still always is teenage angst.’
Henry
Yeah, yeah, this is an emo painting, actually. And I think when I take references from history, or medieval antiquity, or whatever - that's because it's got this distance, this sense of mythology or fairy-tale-ness to it. It's that vagueness, that kind of storytelling, that becomes a way to kind of clamp down on these strange and obscure feelings, if that makes sense?
Mark
It does. Does that castle in the painting come from any particular story? Because my brain goes straight to Kafka’s Castle.
Henry
It’s whatever you want it to be. This is THE castle. The castle I think of when you say castle. A long tower, a couple of keeps. I try keep it simple, when you say castle, what is that synonymous with?
Mark
It looks like the castle from Shrek, Kafka, most fantasy castles.
Henry
And it’s thunder yellow. So it could be a sand castle.
Mark
Are these flames? Or mountains? (…) I guess ‘both’ is the answer?
Henry
Well, you know what – yeah, it’s both. The top is loosely ‘the sky’ and the bottoms is loosely ‘the earth’, and there’s all these little peaks, used to unsettle the landscape, keep it all moving. It’s swirling around, because it’s about the phrase ‘no hard feelings’, its not about a landscape or place.
Mark
The painting also reminds me of the Greek myth where Orpheus ventures into the underworld to bring back his wife, on the condition he did not look back at her before he climbs out, and obviously he does, and she turns to ash. It’s very romantic, tragic, very emo, and very sad. But this painting reminds me of that, because of these little hearts slowly descending or delving into the hellfire -
Drawing for No Hard Feelings
Henry
Yeah, they drift into the dark, towards the black area. And the chains, they are more graphic at the top and becomes faded further down.
Mark
Wow, I love that. You can see the chain fold in on itself and become a pattern. It goes from symbol, or drawing, and then slowly disappears to become pattern and paint.
Henry
Yeah, I'm really pleased with how this came together. Purely from a maker’s point of view, I used soft pastel, oil pastel and oil paint. And normally it's really hard to keep all those elements together, without one dominating the other. And in this painting I’ve really allowed them to complement each other. There’s soft pastel. The more iridescent areas on the hearts are oil pastel. And there’s a lot of charcoal going on along the bottom, its all been rubbed.
Mark
The oil pastel on the heart gives a waxy texture. It appears very separate from everything else.
Henry
Yeah. I guess, the hearts reflect the title of the painting ‘no hard feelings’, so at certain places elements join together and at other places they separate.
Mark
One final question, you do a lot of sculpture?
Henry
Yes
One bite and all your dreams will come true! - Glazed Stoneware, 17x10cm, 2022
Mark
How do you work in both sculpture and paint? Do you pull objects from your paintings, such as the castle?
Henry
Yes. So, the way I work is cyclical. So, I’ll make sculptures that change into paintings and vice-versa. I keep them within their own territory at first, I work with a constant loop of ideas. The same works are being made over and over until I get them where I want them to be. But then, eventually, I pull the objects out. I’ll likely pull that castle out, maybe even the hearts? The way I make them, its quite quick to get the initial form down, but then over the course of a few days I’ll sculpt and shave off areas .
Mark
Is this process kind of like you're sketching? Do you sketch much? Or do you use this kind of cyclical process?
Henry
I sketch straight onto the canvas, I sometimes... I should sketch more…
Mark
Do you feel like you use the clay as a way towards sketching?
Henry
I guess so? I guess it's all different kinds of problem solving. They are all working to the same end. They are all figuring out similar ideas. But yeah… I’ll paint and sculpt at the same time, it's a constant dialog.
Grotesque Mask, Glazed Stoneware, 19x14.5cm, 2022
12:17
Recording Ends