The Landscapes of Dylan Williams and Roger Isaac
Oxmarket Contemporary is delighted to present two exhibitions of landscape painting by Dylan Williams and Roger Isaac. 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. Roger Isaac 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. Though radically different in their means of expression, the two painters tackle their subject with great intensity and affection.
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. I am also reminded of the landscape paintings of Ben Nicholson who’s simplified landscapes and oversized horses later developed into his purely abstract work.
Of his working practice Dylan says: “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.”
Roger’s exhibition of 12 watercolours has echoes of that of Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) and Edward Bawden (1903-1989) 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 designers sense of pattern in nature his works are a reminder of the countryside we may lose to environmental and developmental impact. Roger says "I am inspired by places and buildings and are an attempt to record our heritage and what could be lost from the British landscape.” As subject matter, villages, churches, gardens, in other hands there would be a risk of cloying sentiment. Whilst his love for these views is quite apparent, the studied intensity of mark-making and the sense of movement that runs through landscapes which have great depth make them timeless captures of views.
The two exhibitions which run from 15 February - 13 March 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.
(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.)