Alan Gouk, who has died from cancer aged 84, was an ambitious abstract painter and an eloquent and passionate writer, committed to the continuing power of modernism. For many years he taught sculpture at St Martin’s School of Art (now Central Saint Martins, part of the University of the Arts London). He was primarily influenced by American abstract expressionism, although became conscious of the European basis of his art – his personal lodestars were the painters Henri Matisse, Hans Hofmann and Patrick Heron.
A job as exhibition officer to the British Council in the early 1960s provided Alan with a crucial introduction to the London art world. In 1967 he was recommended by the sculptors Anthony Caro, Phillip King and Isaac Witkin to be chair of the sculpture forums at St Martin’s, where students and professional artists would present and fiercely debate their work.
