Nick Bodimeade English, b. 1957

'I have been a regular exhibitor at the Porthminster Gallery with my paintings of figures on beaches and the abstracted spaces and patterns formed by the figures’ interactions, with sand, sea, light and, most importantly, each other.  So, I was delighted to be asked by the Director and Curator, David Durham, to turn my attention from the coast to the interior.

 

'Exploring the landscapes of Penwith and The Lizard by car, foot, and particularly by bike, I am always struck by its complexity: Its jumble of fields, scattered buildings, lanes, hills and valleys, its clouds shaped like bushes pushed by the wind, bushes pushing back like lumps of rock, and rock seeming to move as the viewer moves, confusingly, like the badly camouflaged Friesian cows that fragment the view with their stark patterning.  A higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of echoing forms, which is reflected in the paintings’ making: The sense of movement, the engagement with material and process, the echoing of forms, and the attempt to find the underlying patterns that keep chaos at bay. 

 

'There are also other echoes at play in this work: It’s impossible in painting this landscape not to be conscious of the achievements of Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon, Sandra Blow, et al.  There is something about this landscape that feeds painting – maybe something to do with complexity, difficulty, resistance,  as well as its stark beauty, and extreme weather.

 

'The paintings in the show have their origins in particular locations, as the titles suggest, but in the end they leave the particularities of location behind becoming combinations of painterly elements that resonate with the viewer’s broader ‘sense of place.’'

Nick Bodimeade, March 2023