Recent Work, November 2018
Location:
Portland Gallery
London
SW1A 1RP
Portland Gallery
London
SW1A 1RP
Date:
29th November — 21st December
29th November — 21st December
Following a sell-out exhibition in 2016, Oliver Akers Douglas, one of britain’s youngest collectable landscape artists, has spent the last two years pushing his plein air painting to the limit for his fourth solo show at portland gallery in 2018.
Largely self-taught, oliver works predominantly from life. He deploys paint in bold strokes with both brush and palette knife to create textured and dynamic surfaces. His paintings are pure material records of his personal experience and deep engagement with the landscape - his knowledge of cloud formations is particularly extraordinary and helps to make his work so distinctive.
Oliver’s quest for wild and beautiful scenes is increasingly forcing him further afield. Battling extreme weather and getting to remote spots with his kit in tow can be gruelling – he recently hiked up a glacier to find the perfect vista in switzerland. Back home, he scouts for locations using his specially adapted land rover, so he can paint straight onto a canvas attached to the side. Finding new solutions to the problems posed by plein air painting is all part of his process. For locations in this exhibition only reachable by foot oliver has adapted a golf trolley!
As well as painting dorset, wiltshire, connemara and switzerland, oliver has made several expeditions to the scottish isle of iona in the hebrides to create this body of work. In doing so, he is painting in the footsteps of the scottish colourist painters - most particularly cadell and peploe. Their famous paintings of the astonishing white sands, clear waters and breath-taking landscape have made the island a mecca for artists. Since cadell and peploe’s visits to iona in the early 20th century, few artists have captured the island’s atmosphere as convincingly as oliver.
A possible idea for a feature would be to compare the colourists’ iona with the one that oliver finds today. Given the specificity of rocks and distant features it is possible to identify exactly the spots they stood in to paint their pictures. Oliver has created dozens of paintings that would offer intriguing comparisons to the colourist's own. Furthermore, portland gallery represents and works with the estates of cadell and peploe – obtaining pictures rights would not be an issue.
Largely self-taught, oliver works predominantly from life. He deploys paint in bold strokes with both brush and palette knife to create textured and dynamic surfaces. His paintings are pure material records of his personal experience and deep engagement with the landscape - his knowledge of cloud formations is particularly extraordinary and helps to make his work so distinctive.
Oliver’s quest for wild and beautiful scenes is increasingly forcing him further afield. Battling extreme weather and getting to remote spots with his kit in tow can be gruelling – he recently hiked up a glacier to find the perfect vista in switzerland. Back home, he scouts for locations using his specially adapted land rover, so he can paint straight onto a canvas attached to the side. Finding new solutions to the problems posed by plein air painting is all part of his process. For locations in this exhibition only reachable by foot oliver has adapted a golf trolley!
As well as painting dorset, wiltshire, connemara and switzerland, oliver has made several expeditions to the scottish isle of iona in the hebrides to create this body of work. In doing so, he is painting in the footsteps of the scottish colourist painters - most particularly cadell and peploe. Their famous paintings of the astonishing white sands, clear waters and breath-taking landscape have made the island a mecca for artists. Since cadell and peploe’s visits to iona in the early 20th century, few artists have captured the island’s atmosphere as convincingly as oliver.
A possible idea for a feature would be to compare the colourists’ iona with the one that oliver finds today. Given the specificity of rocks and distant features it is possible to identify exactly the spots they stood in to paint their pictures. Oliver has created dozens of paintings that would offer intriguing comparisons to the colourist's own. Furthermore, portland gallery represents and works with the estates of cadell and peploe – obtaining pictures rights would not be an issue.
To register your interest in an exhibition and for all other enquiries please email:
info@olliead.com
info@olliead.com