Slade educated John Virtue, is an English contemporary landscape artist. He works solely in monochrome, balancing on the fence between abstraction and the more figurative. He is best known for a series of work, collectively known as the London Paintings. They were produced during his tenure as associate artist to the National Gallery.
One of the perks of being associate artist is a free run of the national galleries landscape collection. Looking at the work you can see the influence of some of the great masters of landscape painting. Lets be honest what artist wouldn’t be affected by limitless exposure to the greats.
I can see the stormy abstract skies of Turner’s 1843 work, The Evening of the deluge.
The sophisticated compositional techniques of Constable, using clouds to direct the viewer’s eye.
Looking at the work of John Virtue I’m knock backwards by his treatment of light. I’m almost convinced that what he’s painting isn’t buildings and structures, but the absence of light. This gives the works an ethereal quality; subjects are shrouded in mist and shadow. Skies are rendered with the highest levels of contrast both leaden and intensely bright at the same time.
They also speak to me of time, the images seem to evoke a London of the past. A London devoid of neon advertisements, garish glass skyscrapers, just a working city enveloped in industrial smoke and fog. They are a visceral experience; you can feel the thick air catch in your throat.
Another series of Virtue’s work that I admire are his studies of the sea at Cley next the sea, in Norfolk. The works are informed from sketches produced on his morning constitutionals. The work has much more in common with abstract expressionism than the great landscape painters. Having tried to draw the sea, and failed, I am struck by how tangible the water feels in these images. I’ve seen waves like these, I can hear them crashing.
I’m rather disappointed that I haven’t been able to view any of his work first hand. I get the impression that the sheer scale of the work would add so much to the enjoyment of the experience.
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