The true worth of art, as both Constable and Turner observed, lies in its authenticity
Whether we are artists or not, for all of us memory and the experience of empathy defines both a sense of self-awareness, in relation to others, and our own sense of individuality from which we build our “thinking” and “feeling” emotional landscapes. My own art practice, as primarily a landscape painter, involves purposeful wanderings of parklands, woodlands, forests, meadows, farmlands, moorlands and heaths, mountains and hillsides, waterways, coastlines and promontories. Back in the studio, specific motifs such as trees, flowers, clouds, the sun and moon, church-spires, wayside markings and crosses, take on symbolic, metaphoric, or associative meanings, alongside explorations of colour modulation, scale and spatial geometry. In practical terms, familiarisation and authentic experiences are reinforced by an assemblage of visual, auditory, haptic and somatic material: sketches, notations, maps, guide-books, old postcards, poetry, music, photographs, and “found” natural objects, such as leaves, pine cones and sea-salt pebbles. The resultant paintings are carefully conceived re-presentations and re-compositions, which retain a figurative presence, involving a selective and interpretative process. Complex colour arrangements and applications, degrees of luminosity and “hidden geometry,” are all used so as to draw the viewer within the experience of aesthetic empathy and 'that grateful sensation of inner peace and clarity:’
'Nine Letters on Landscape Painting', Carl Gustav Carus, 1831.
‘There is a great sense of clarity and authenticity running throughout the practice, and I think the paintings demonstrate both technical accomplishment and a deeply personal relationship with landscape and nature.
...The painting demonstrates a wonderful balance between complexity and calmness... I think the connection between walking, sensory engagement, empathy, and landscape gives the paintings authenticity and intellectual depth. Importantly, however, the conceptual ideas never overwhelm the paintings themselves. The works remain emotionally accessible and visually generous first, which is one of the great strengths of Angela’s art practice.’
Kurt Beers, Director of Beers London & Author of ‘100 Painters of Tomorrow,’ Thames & Hudson 2014
