Focus on landscapes in new Chichester exhibitions

Gallery director Andrew Churchill said: “Though radically different in their means of expression, the two painters tackle their subject with great intensity and affection.”

Dylan Williams (b 1995) who studied at Bath School of Art and Design and Swansea College of Art is a painter whose work is concerned with the landscape of South Wales, particularly Swansea, where he lives and works.

Dylan said: “My work revolves around a fixation with hills and mountains and a worship of four-legged animals, and trying to uncover the hidden voices and spirit of the landscape and searching for portals through time and under land spaces in local hills and mountains. This is underpinned by a regular practice of walking and drawing constantly searching for an economy of means through mark and image making.”

Andrew added: “What has been so exciting in preparation for this exhibition is people’s instant recognition of the landscapes being of Wales. Through the misty views of mountains and trees we are firmly in that Welsh setting.”

“Dylan’s work is reminiscent of the great American painter Milton Avery who is the subject of a major retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts this year. Through his simplification of the subject, be it mountain, tree or horse, we instantly recognise the subject for what it is. It’s almost as if it taps into our mind’s ability to recognise something from the simplest of means. Dylan’s exhibition in Chichester is to be followed by a major solo exhibition at the Fortnight Institute in New York. We are thrilled that Chichester will get to see a body of work made over the last year before his career lifts off to the next level.

“The second painter we are exhibiting at the same time is Roger Isaac. Roger was born and spent his childhood in a Hampshire village. His love and appreciation of the countryside started in those early years. He now lives in Wantage, Oxfordshire. He paints mainly in watercolour. For me his work has echoes of that of Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) as well as the many artists of that era who turned to the landscape as subject after the horror of the First World War. With both an eye for detail and a designer’s sense of pattern in nature his works are a timely reminder of the countryside we might lose to environmental and developmental impact.”

Andrew added: “The two exhibitions which run from February 14-27 are a unique opportunity to see the differing takes on the British landscape and cements the enduring importance of landscape and our lived environment to contemporary artists.”