at Origin Gallery October 19th – November 7th 2017
Opening by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr. Brendan Griffin
Now recognised as one of the most innovative landscape painters working today, Andrew Giffords paintings and light installations have been widely exhibited and his work are in private collections in Europe, USA and Japan. A monograph on the artist was published in 2005. This current show ‘Luminance’ at Origin Gallery features works by the artist celebrating Kerry: land, sea and sky.
Andrew Gifford Sheffield, U.K. – b.1970 is now recognised as one of the most innovative landscape painters working today. His paintings and light installations have been widely exhibited and his work is in private collections in Europe, USA and Japan. A monograph on the artist was published in 2005. This new show features works celebrating Kerry: land, sea and sky. The artist says the light in South West Ireland often seems to have a breathtakingly transient quality of an almost spiritual nature.
“The light in South West Ireland often seems to have a breathtakingly transient quality of an almost spiritual nature.”
‘Towards Valentia Island’ 9.75 x 12 inches, Oil on board; €8,500
‘Cottages on Valentia Island, Co Kerry I’, Oil on Panel, 15 x 15.5 inches, Oil on board; €8,500
Light on the Bay – Over to Hogs Head 13 x 13.5 inches, Oil on board; €6,950
‘Fir Trees at Sunset, Kerry’ 8.25 x 8.75 inches, Oil on board
Jerusalem to Ballinskelligs…
Edward Said writing for Wall Street International describes how this English artist deals with landscapes in different worlds…
“Jerusalem presents numerous problems for any artist, especially a contemporary Western painter whose footsteps will invariably follow those of numerous topographical artists who have made the same journey. The somewhat tired legacy of 19th century Biblical and Orientalist scenes gives rise to almost as many problems for the artist as the more pressing political divisions of the city today. And yet the landscape itself continues to evoke the most profound emotions to its inhabitants, to its visitors and to the countless exiles for whom Jerusalem will always remain home.
The relevance of landscape painting and the fascination a view can still evoke in new audiences is demonstrated nowhere more clearly than in an area where the ownership and legitimacy of the land is the central part of people’s lives, pride and heritage.”
But if the world looks different from the Middle East, then happily the Middle East looks different to Andrew Gifford and so to the Kingdom of Kerry, different again another challenge for this artist.
The landscape of South West Kerry has drawn this British artist back again and again for its rugged wilderness that has to his mind a history behind it of a noble people, small against the magnificence of the mountains, lakes and sky which he sketches liberally. The people, however, have left their indelible marks through field patterns drawn out with dry stone walls – artistic in themselves, defining not only the earth they trod but the effects of their hard work and passion for this ancient territory.
SOLO SHOWS: 2017 Morocco: Recent Paintings, John Martin, London 2016 Tokyo: Street Paintings, Art Central, Hong Kong 2015 NYC Paintings, Spring Masters NYC, John Martin, London 2014 Cities of the North East, University of Northumbria, UK 2014 Thames Painting, John Martin, London 2013 Paintings of Jerusalem and Ramallah, John Martin, London 2013 Paintings of Little Heaven – Glyndebourne, John Martin, London 2012 London Landscapes, John Martin, London 2011 Spring-Amman, John Martin, London 2010 Pigment; Light, Phoenix, Brighton 2010 Budapest, John Martin, London 2010 Looking West from Albert Embankment, London Art Fair 2008 Istanbul Lights Series at Art London, John Martin, London 2007 Tyne Bridge Tower Paintings, John Martin, London 2006 12 hours Facing Bhearra, Art LONDON 2006, John Martin, London 2006 Yemen Paintings, John Martin, London 2006 Recent Work, John Martin, London 2005 Paris Paintings – Part 1, John Martin, London 2004 French Paintings – Part 2, John Martin, London 2004 London Street Paintings – John Martin, London 2003 Leeds City Art Gallery – Leeds/Bradford Series 2003 Fontaine Evening Paintings – ArtLONDON 2002 Brighton/France – John Martin, London 2001 Berlin Paintings – ArtLONDON 2000/01 Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Landscape Paintings 1998-2000 Paintings from the Sellamoto Studio, Middlesbrough Art 1999 The Limehouse Series, ArtLondon, Duke of York’s Barracks 1998 Recent Paintings, John Martin, London 1993 Artist in Focus, Middlesbrough Art
The Origin Gallery 