Jim Whitty: Trees, Rivers and Spirits
Tuesday 25 June 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
24 Cork Street W1S 3NJ
Continues 26 June – 16 July London Gallery
20 July - 10 Aug Bath Gallery
Adam Gallery is delighted to present 'Trees, Rivers and Spirits' - an exhibition of Jim Whitty's recent works. This series of paintings continues Jim’s ongoing exploration of the woods around his Somerset home. They are places of constantly shifting light and mood according to weather, time and season, and this is reflected by the use of a variety of styles and colour pallets. Some are closely drawn, to create the endless detail of a forest scene, while others are painted loosely, at speed, to capture the energy of a sunlit spring morning.
There is a sense of brooding mystery to many of these works. In some, the colours are pushed to almost hallucinatory levels, while the use of the triptych format echo religious icons of the past, suggesting some residual trace of spiritual resonance. Others hint at an elusive narrative that is only half glimpsed through the trees, leading the viewer on, or drawing them back into the personal mythologies and tales of woods, that we all carry with us from a very young age. Nothing is explained, and conclusions lead off in various directions, like the myriad of wild paths that wind through the forest.
But these paintings remain, largely, immersive visual impacts of colour and form, evocative of fleeting moments of wide eyed wonder, when an experience in the natural world can leave you feeling energized and glad to be alive.