We know the start of term can be a stressful time. If you’re looking for a quick break from your busy schedule why not come down to the Attenborough Arts Centre to visit our new, upcoming exhibition Arcadia For All? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now.
This free exhibition presents a timely exploration of our relationship with nature through a variety of themes including climate change, commercialisation, and land access. With the involvement of over thirty artists who’s works span a broad range of mediums, ‘Arcadia For All?’ adopts an inclusive view of landscape art, diverging from the bucolic tradition of the genre, towards a more diverse and expansive understanding of landscape painting. Radical in its approach, this exhibition prompts a much-needed reflection on our relationship with nature and the forces which shape it.
Geraint Evans, ‘Frankfurter’, 2022. Oil on Canvas. ©The Artist. Photo B J Deakin Photograph
In its refreshing take on landscape painting, at times Arcadia For All? adopts a more playful tone, as is illustrated by Geraint Evans’ artwork ‘Frankfurter’ which we’ve featured above. At first you might find yourself wondering what do anthropomorphised sausages have to do with landscape painting? And what does landscape painting have to do with climate change? But a closer inspection of Evan’s depiction of a mountain range foregrounded by a winking sausage on top of a hotdog van, reveals connections and tensions between commercialisation and concepts of ‘wilderness’. In doing so, Evans presents a commentary on the commodification of nature by drawing attention to the “hybrid space” where natural and built environments meet in an unexpectedly playful way.
If you want to see more work like this and challenge your own perception of landscape painting, be sure to visit this free exhibition in Gallery 1 from 15 September.
To find out more information about the exhibition, please visit our website.
News Post written by Chloe Hutchinson.