The Climbing Accident
Oil on Board
17cm x 15cm
SOLD


Jason
Oil on Board
30cm x 28cm
£1200.00

Karen
Oil on Board
164cm x 132.4cm
£10,000.00

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Painting what I see "in all its reality" is not about photographic realism; I prefer to work directly from the subject, only occasionally using photography as an aid. This allows the painting to evolve as my own vision of it develops, discovering new, unforeseen possibilities. The finished painting may have been subject to dozens of revisions and alterations, but for me this process simply adds weight to the final image.

Life drawing has always been an important discipline for developing drawing skills, but my interest has always been beyond the exercise, to make images relating the human figure to its particular surroundings. This has developed through my portraits, in which still- life elements and interior space are used to reflect some aspect of the sitter's life.

It is important to approach portraiture with humility, walking the thin line between flattery and cruelty, trying to paint an image that does not merely reflect my own personality .

What I seek is to make a connection between what I see before me, the object, and what I see within me, the vision; to make a synthesis of perception and conception, intellect and emotion.

This inner connection feels strongest for me when painting the landscape. I dream vividly of landscapes and journeys in them. Some of my earliest memories are of the atmosphere of particular places. My landscape paintings, however empirical, contain strong echoes of landscape of memory and imagination. My small landscapes paintings, executed rapidly on the spot, show a more intuitive response. They tend to be cropped rather than expansive, small fragments of the landscape. They are an extension of my sketchbooks.

The paintings of Trelawney Avenue are part of a series started in 1989, depicting the view from my bedroom window. I am fascinated by the complex and condensed organisation of trees and buildings, with the expanse of ocean and sky above and beyond. I wanted to paint the scene with the kind of crystalline clarity that clear winter light can give to the landscape, revealing textures and etching forms in brilliant relief.

The same view is the basis for my series of Nightviews. The title was suggested to me after reading an essay on the nocturnal aspect of German Romanticism by Roger Cardinal, who discussed the work of Caspar David Friedrich whose work has been important to me.
I first made drawings of the landscape at night whilst at school, fascinated by the magical effects of light and atmosphere. I started making studies of Trelawney Avenue at night, and soon became interested in the double-image effect when the light in my room reflected on the double-glazed window, with a glimpse of the landscape beyond. It is a subject that presents fascinating contrasts; between the harsh orange of streetlights and the cool diffuse light of dusk, between the intimacy of a self-portrait and the vastness of the nocturnal sea and sky.

For the large Nightview Reflections I have tried to create a sense of tension between the landscape and the reflections. The reflections are fragmented and insubstantial, equally the landscape is about to be swallowed by darkness, which makes the whole image teeter on the edge of existence. The gaze of the figure (which is a self-portrait) is regarding itself and the landscape and perhaps also the viewer of the painting. This contains a paradox: the figure can be seen as either part of the landscape and looking out, towards the viewer, or separated from the landscape, observing from behind the glass of the window. In the latter instance the viewer is implicated, as the reflection could be his/her own. This looking outwards and inwards simultaneously is for me a metaphor for the creative act.

The subject has more potential than I can realise in one painting therefore I intend to paint a series, all on the same scale, exploring different qualities of light and the relationship of figure to landscape.




Contact: Ashley Hold
More Images.............
Visit Ashley's Open Studios Page

 

Nightview
Oil on Board
19.5cm x 14.5cm
£600.00

Trees & Moonlight
Charcoal on Paper
N.F.S

Logan Rock
Oil on Board
22cm x 29.5cm
£900.00