Zak Last Contemporary Artist.

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Zak is a contemporary artist based in Lancashire, England, working predominantly with oil paints onto canvas or canvas paper. His oil on canvas paintings are bespoke hand built, using solid pine frames, with a cotton canvas stretched around the frames. The canvas is then sized using a traditional method. 

All Zak's original oil paintings are created from life or direct observation from the subject. Drawing is the foundation of every painting that he creates. Working en Plein air allows Zak to truly depict what he sees and interpret light, colour, form, shape, and movement. 

Zak creates his paintings  on canvas paper, canvas or hardboard, which he later finishes in his studio. The three painting platforms allow him to exercise different techniques and styles. Using oil on canvas means he can build up the paint in layers, creating an expressive surface texture and a physical depth to the painting, giving it an almost 3D effect. Using canvas paper, her can work quickly with washes of oil and using board is the most practical solution to working outdoors. 

Over the decades Zak has visited and produced paintings from  Kenya, Tanzania, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Greek Islands. His paintings hang in public and private collections around the world. He has had solo and group exhibitions since 1996, where he was based at East Street Art Studios in Leeds. In 2019 Zak had his most successful Landscapes, Buildings and Objects exhibition, Coach House Gallery, Astley Hall, in Lancashire with forty original oil paintings on show. As a result of this exhibition there was a demand for limited edition prints and private commissioned work. 

Zak is currently working on a project which is close to his passion of the environment and wildlife. The impact of plastic and rubbish disgarded by humans in a landscape, woodland or on the beaches and how to create work to show this.