One Hour and Thirty Minutes/09.11.19

For the exhibition I presented three paintings, alongside some of my soft sculptures. Due to travel the work needed to be a smaller scale and I am not sure if this delivers my intentions fully. The nature of work is that the landscapes should be overwhelming and exaggerated so the best way to achieve this is through scale. Having said that it did mean that the audience moved up a lot closer to look at the paintings and interacted with the sculptures more, rather than looking from afar, as it looked less intimidating.

My work takes reference from the “American Sublime” exhibition displayed at the Tate in 2002. It showcased an art style displayed by painters in the late 18th-century used to depict epic landscapes. The painters came to form the Hudson River school, Thomas Cole (1801-1848) being regarded as the founder, and later introducing Luminism, an art style in the 19th-century. Paintings were calm and hazy, with emphasis on creating light.

Edmund Burke(1757) coined the term ‘Sublime’ and it came to be understood as the powerful and astonishing capabilities of nature and how it makes us feel. Artists used this as a tool to exaggerate their natural surroundings, often being large scale paintings, capturing nature at its most dramatic. I have been influenced by romantic sublime artists such as J.M.W Turner and his captivating, wild depictions of seascapes and skies. Also painters such as John Constable and his awe evoking English landscapes. I am wanting to depict our current rural landscapes in a way that shows how I feel in that environment.

Images Above: Left and Right: 52x62cm, acrylic and pastel on canvas. Middle: 60x60cm, acrylic and pastel on canvas, 2019.

Images below: Close ups of soft sculptures from One Hour and Thirty Minutes, 2019.