The Landscape is Changing

About

‘The landscape is changing’ Chris Campbell 

About the Exhibition

Throughout art history the landscape has been the muse of many artists reacting to environment before them. Whether it is impressionists or romanticists who captured light and mood, or artists who've conveyed the social elements of the city, the urge to react to our surroundings has always driven artists. 

In gallery 1, the viewer is greeted by an installation of thirty small paintings. Presented in a gridded format, they ask 'what constitutes a landscape painting and how broadly can it be interpreted?' Their close proximity invites the viewer to respond to the images collectively as well as individually. Experimental in subject and execution, these canvases cross-pollinate ideas of landscape painting.

In gallery 2, the paintings celebrate urban landscape and champion social realism. Burnt out cars and decrepit caravans show a maudlin side of our waste and consumerism. These images are bittersweet; despite the bleak nature of the subject, there is still an intended beauty that resides in these silent melodramas.

About the Artist

Chris graduated with a Fine Art degree from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1998 and it was here that he seriously became interested in painting. Upon graduating he spent 10 years living in London, where he regularly exhibited at various galleries and received positive reviews from publications such as the Guardian, Times magazine and the Independent.

He combined painting with working in an art supply shop and as an art technician, most notably stretching canvases for exhibitions at the National Gallery.

Chris moved back to Leeds in 2009 to start a family. Since moving back he combines his role as a stay at home dad with painting in his studio.