We are pleased to welcome Chris back to Ffin y Parc with a new collection of North Wales landscapes. His economical palette, clean simple lines and stylized shapes may suggest his background and training as a graphic artist, but he uses them to great effect. His selective, observant eye is able to capture the rhythm of the landscape, and the way our buildings and roads fit and fold into it. What might initially seem simple or naïve, is actually rather deft and subtle. The work is cool and poised. There is shadow, solitude and distance. What might easily become over-familiar becomes tinged with sadness, longing, and a resigned acceptance of inherent unknowability. Over the years, Chris has found his audience, and his spiritual home in Penmachno, after living for many years in Pembrokeshire.
Chris says…
I spend a lot of time walking with my sketchbook, camera, maps and dogs. A strong sense of composition and colour simplifies the finished image and my aim is to capture the emotion and drama of a place, often with an aesthetic that has all but disappeared with the battle of modernization in the countryside. Romanticism is shunned in favour of capturing the constant negotiation between man and nature. The slow, inevitable decay of our endeavours and their reclamation by nature both fascinates me and gives hope in a world in which we blithely attempt to enforce our control.
(Please note: The last day to view the exhibition in its entirety is Sunday 26th March. The 29th will only be the remaining available works.)
