In a word – GO!!  The Candida Stevens Gallery is at 12 Northgate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1BA (near the roundabout with the fire station) and is open Wednesday – Saturday 10 – 5pm and by appointment until 7th July.  The current exhibition is “Geology of Landscape” showing a range of paintings and Intaglio monoprints by the wonderful Jeremy Gardiner.

You can read more about him on his website but here is an introduction from it: “Jeremy Gardiner’s artistic excavation of the geology of landscape is shaped both by human activity and by the forces of nature. Gardiner interprets, through his painting and printmaking, a variety of landscapes that contain the marks and secrets of their own distant formation, giving them a unique, contemporary depth and beauty. His artistic exploration has taken him from the Jurassic Coast of Dorset to the rugged coast of Cornwall, the Oceanic islands of Brazil, the arid beauty of the island of Milos in Greece and more recently the Lake District and its numerous waterfalls.

Gardiner’s spatially probing and texturally explicit pictures creatively transform the lessons learnt from pioneering modern British landscape painters such as John Tunnard, Ben Nicholson, Peter Lanyon and the American artist Richard Diebenkorn.

Jeremy Gardiner is a graduate of Newcastle University and the Royal College of Art. He exhibits regularly with Paisnel Gallery in St James’s, London. His paintings have been exhibited in Europe, the USA, South America, Japan, Australia and China. He has won numerous awards throughout his career including a Churchill Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and a Harkness Fellowship. Gardiner’s paintings are represented in public and corporate collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Government Art Collection, BNP Paribas, Vincent Masons and Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi.”

I have his book “Unfolding Landscape” and “Pillars of Light” should arrive today.  But, the books cannot do justice to his work – you really do need to see the paintings in real life to appreciate the depth and texture in his work.  Here is one of my favourites –

“Golden Cap, Dorset, 2007” – acrylic and jesmonite on birch panel.

Those who know me will understand my love of textured paintings and Jeremy’s use of layers built up out of  acrylic and wood relief or acrylic and/or watercolour and Jesmonite on wood panel in sculptural waves and ridges is very exciting.  He often works on wooden panels which are not driftwood but feel as if they might be and if you watch the videos on his website you can see how a blowtorch and a chisel help him create the lovely surfaces.   Recognisable features of the coast are part of a complex unification of shapes and textures and sometimes there are lovely details of buildings amongst the curves and sweeps of landscape.  Here are a couple more examples:

“Against the Light, Trevose Head, Cornwall, 2016” Acrylic and Jesmonite on poplar panel

“Sheer Cliffs, Pendeen Lighthouse, 2011” – acrylic and jesmonite on poplar panel

I understand that Jeremy’s next project will be Sussex so I look forward to seeing his new work in due course – please go and be inspired – prices from £1,750.

All images produced with the kind permission of Jeremy Gardiner.