Patrick W. Welch

Patrick W. Welch (1 July 196516 October 2008) was an English painter, illustrator, cartoonist, and art professor who lived in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He billed himself as "Patrick W. Welch, Painter of Hate," a spoof/homage to Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light.

Career Welch was born in Billericay, England, and attended state schools. He earned a BA in graphic design from the Norwich School of Art in 1987 and an MA in illustration from the Royal College of Art in 1991. In 1993 Welch gained cult status for "The Hippogryph Files," a series of graphic short stories that appeared in The Baffler, Pulse!, and numerous comics anthologies, as well as being printed as postcards. Welch shared a London studio with illustrator Mikey Georgeson, better known as The Vessel from the indie-pop band David Devant & His Spirit Wife.

In 1995 Welch moved to the United States with his American wife, Carrie Golus. During the 1990s Welch and Golus co-edited a short-lived comics anthology, Thurn & Taxis.

Welch taught sequential art at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, from 1995 to 1998.

Commenting in Chicago's Newcity, critic Michael Workman writes:

Sporting career Welch learned football and played from 1991 until 1995 as a midfielder. After moving to the USA he did not resume playing.

Animation instructor As a teacher at the Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago, Welch taught in the Animation department. Classes he taught included Acting for Animation, Story-boarding, Drawing and Characterization, Character Design, Advanced Life Drawing (occasionally) and Portfolio classes. Welch taught alongside Lindsay Grace at the school.

Part of his popularity may have been due to his delightfully morose personality quirks. He was known for his self-deprecating humor and detached, bleak outlook on the world, while maintaining a generally positive disposition in spite of it. While generally portraying himself as a pessimist in regard to society at large, he was undeniably an optimist in regard to the ability and potential of his students. Welch was in the habit of indicating an imminent break to the students attending his lectures with the words "Come on everyone, these cigarettes are not going to smoke themselves".

Micromentalists In 2006, Welch started an art movement collectively known as the Micromentalists. The general philosophy of the group was that art need not be "monumental" in scale to be important, and has been described as "pseudo-Marxist". Welch's purpose in putting together the Micromentalists was to start an art movement based on this philosophy. Founding members included artists Bill Drummond, Steve Keene, Paul Nudd, James J. Peterson, and Eric Doeringer.

The group became known not only for its premise of small art, but also for its commercial practice of selling art at lower prices, adjusted for the income of the buyer. Their first shows were mentioned in Chicago and national art media for these reasons and for the participation of notable artists such as Drummond and Keene.

Personal life and death Welch died at the age of 43 in 2008, "leaving behind his wife Carrie Golus, and twin 5-year-old sons, Ben & Alex."

Publications and reviews

2007

2005

2004

2002

2001

2000

1998