51Artists featured in issue #4 - Abstract John Walker (left) English born artist John has exhibited at the most prestigious national galleries in the UK and the USA (Museum of Modern Art NYC, the Tate Gallery, the Philips collection, the Hayward Gallery, etc). He taught art at the royal College of London and repsented the UK in the Vienna Bi-Annual. From1992 he has teaching at Boston University. His current work explores abstract form witha definitive subject idea behind them. Kayla Mohammadi (above) Kayla is a fine art lecturer at Massachusetts College of Art. Her work holds the natural world firmly in it’s grasp. She translates personal feelings of place and time into colour arrangements. Peaceful and serine her work is always a delight to the eye. She has exhibited mostly in the USA. Denis Taylor (above) Lisa Kreuziger (above) Editor of painters Tubes, Denis enrolled at theManchester High School of Art in 1962 at the age of In 2008 Lisa spent time in the USA after eleven years old. His work is a constant evolving leaving her home in Germany when she process from reality to abstraction with colour decided to take on Art creation on a full dictating the form. He has exhibited in Europe andcurated major national and international exhibitions. time basis. The series ‘Sun City’ His studios are in Sweden, Greece and the UK. (exhibited in London 2017) are paintings Shahin De Heart (right) of experiences of Sacrremento, more than an actual a physical place. She creates paintings with broad gestural abstraction of extreme beauty and sensitivity. Shahin was born in Tehran before settling in Germany where she studied visual art at the Aachen University. Her studios are now located in Remscheid-Lennep, Germany.

52 Colin Taylor (left) David Stanley (right) Based in Cheshire UK, Colin David loves texture and works with Abstract with the realityworks his paintings over of the natural world at it’s core. and over, washing and His interest stems from his lifescrubbing until he ‘see’s long passion for mountain climbing. His last major commision what the work wishes however was to document the to be. Rooted in the creation of a high rise modern natural environment, building in the centre of Man- his work is known and chester (UK) which have beenadmired in the UK, USA exhibited a number of occasions (Lines in Space). He is currently and Germany. working on a new project which His studio are based in documents the environment ofHindley, Lancashire, UK mountains in South America.at Cross Street Studios. Jean Mirre (above) - Jean set out to be a poet, and left France to study in Ireland. What he found there was ‘visual poetry’ and has been painting ever since. Exhibted widley, inc: USA, Japan and most of the European mainland. Stephen Heaton (left) Riccado Vitiello (above) - Born in Tuscany (It- aly). He first experimented with video art before concentraing of ‘plastic’ art. Early work clearly shows he admired both Pollock and Mark Tobey. Stephen is the Director of Cross Street Studios (UK). His work is concerned with the natural and chemical landscape. He sees the detail of how nature creeps back in dominace in delapidated old factories and how the boundries of man and nature begin to blur. Hans Reefman (right) Mike Weeden (above) Straight from leaving the RoyalFrom his home in Arnhem, Holland, Navy to taking art lessons - Mike Hans is now exploring the digital has exhibited in the Northern UK world of effects and textures. since 2007. He has enjoyed great success in England and Scotland,He also paints using ‘nail-varnish’ to where he now lives paints andcreate unique images of dense high exhibits his figurative abstraction tonal saturated colour. canvas work.

53Last but not least in this annual review of 2017 is the Landscape painting special issue. This populargenre of painting was extensive with conributions from artists that exceeded the space we can reason-ably allow. This review gives an ‘edited version of the main article which discussed the genre in depth.It also includes all the participating artists with one example of their Art.When it comes to visual art today, landscape is, and by a huge margin,the most popular subject with the general public, that is according tothe many independent data analysis reports available on the web.Landscape paintings, it seems, are the most sought after by all sociallevels of people in modern society. They are the most exhibited ingalleries world wide and the subject of them, nature, is one whichalmost every contemporary painter has, at some time or another, turned their attention to, but it wasn’t always that way. Landscape on its own, as a autonomous work of Art, was once was frowned upon and was not taken seriously by those who controlled the output of Artists. It was viewed as a non-educated (non-intellectual) form of art. During the fifteenth century and some to extent the sixteenth century, the ‘mode’ of painting that was to be given a high status especially by the powerful art Academics, was historical referenced painting. Ancient Greek myths, Biblical stories or Viking legends etc. It was these subjects were seen as the only serious form of art that an artist should select as subject matter. Landscapes were only necessary to create the ‘stage’ or as ‘support’ for the human figures within them, figures that acted out their part and help to illustrate the story of the chosen subject. These background landscapes were painted in a specific way or with predetermined exacting tonal values that laid themselves back on the painting, always subservient to the human figure. How did landscape, as an art form of itself, rise above this myopic system of Art? In Europe by the seventeenth century the Dutch and Flemish school broke the mould somewhat with the work of Aelbert Cuyp, Jacop Van Rusisdael and, even more influential (for the change in attitude towards landscape painting), were the artists Vermeer and Peter Paul Rubens. Although Rubens was largely regarded as a baroque artist of classical subjects, with the painting “Landscape with Philemon and Baucis” c.1620/1625, for example, the artist ensured that ‘landscape’ played far more than simply a supporting role, but was in fact the main focusof the painting itself. The obvious differences was in the scale of thehuman figures in the work, which is totally the opposite of say, DaVinci, who, despite meticulous attention to his landscape backgrounds,concentrated on the human figure as the dominant subject. Leonardo,like Michelangelo, could never have been regarded as landscapepainters, not that either of them even wished to be seen as such, orindeed that that description (as artists) had ever crossed their minds.Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain were two other influential artiststo win-over the art establishments to re-evaluating landscape painting,should be taken seriously, and as a worthy subject to itself. Perhapsthis was because the social and political climate across Europe waschanging. Aristocratic patrons of the arts reflected the change inenvironmental concerns.

54 The eighteenth century saw England and France lead the way with ‘new’ modes of landscape painting, artists the likes of Wetter, Fragonard and Boucher were producing lyrical, if not romantic outdoor landscape scenes populated by figures that shown how wonderful life was. It is perhaps Richard Wilson (Welsh Artist - b.1714- d.1782) that should be given the acclaim as the artist who brought landscape painting into its own. His work opened the door for other artists to explore nature as ‘the subject’ without any references to any figurative historical or mythological subject matter. Wilson, despite being a founder member of the Royal Academy (in 1768), he died an alcoholic and penniless, but his work lived on. The Welsh Academy of Art (Encyclopaedia of Wales) once described Wilson as “most distinguished painter Wales has ever produced and the first to appreciate the aesthetic possibilities of his country”. Thomas Gainsborough, perhaps better known for his portraiture,often tired of painting people and would resort to scenic painting.It is said, that he often gathered ‘bits and bobs’ from around his home, i.e. a piece of a branch here, a handful of moss there and constructa ‘mini-scene’ in his studio then created landscape paintings from those simpleflotsam references. Another innovator was Alexander Cozens (1717-1786) the father of John Robert Cozens, who created what he described as ‘automatic landscapes.’ These blots and scribbles on paper provided his source for a new way to create original landscape paintings from the subconscious or by way of physiognomic projection only. It is worth noting here, that J.M.W Turner was friends with Cozens son (John Robert) and the likelihood of Turner being aware of the ‘automatic-painting’ idea greatly influenced how he himself would approach a painting later in life. By 1794, Thomas Girtin, ayoung and brilliant water-colourists, was exhibiting at the Royal Academy withsome outstanding landscapes. He became a friend of J.M.W Turner, who said of him many years after Girtin’s death... “If Girtin were to have lived, I should have starved..” The Romantic period of the nineteenth century witnessed the rise of Landscape painting as an accepted genré by the art institutions across Europe. In the UK John Constable and J.M.W Turner were the leading figures who had followers both in France and the United States. Their work demonstrated the majestic power of nature and were masters of imbuing atmospheric and ethereal feelings within their canvas’s. Casper David Friedrich (1774- 1840) was another ground breaking artist who had used landscape to gain almost religious significance in his paintings, whereas Askeli Gallen Kallela (1865-1931) was producing astonishing advanced landscape paintings in Finland. In France, new forms of landscape was being researched by the Barbizon school (although it was only a loose grouping ofartists, rather than a School as such), the group included Jean Francois Millet, Charles Daubigny and Théodore Rousseau. These painters concentrated on landscape in and around the Fontainebleu forest with exacting observation and classical arrangements of natural compositions. Although the work created was profound, it wasn’t a natural interpretation, nor That would be left up to a younger generation of artists that were inspired by Constable and Turner and the new technological invention of packing oil into metal containers (1841), which made ‘plein-air’ not only more possible but as well as studio production from sketch work. Over in the United States the Hudson River School of painters (1825- 1870) created landscapes of Catskill Mountain, the Hudson river and the open wild spaces of New England. Their main concern was with light and shade, using and being inspired by the views of the untouched and unadulterated natural environment of the New World. The group included Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Thomas Doughty. Their work would go on to stimulate future artists the likes of Frederic Edwin Church, Fitz Henry Lane, Jasper Cropsey, Albert Bierstadt, Martin Johnson Heade and Winslow Homer, just to mention a few of the American renown landscape painters of later years.

55Young artists in Europe jumped on the new trend of painting outdoors. The most known about today being the French impressionists. This band of young anarchistic painters were spurred on by the courageous formal paintings of Manet, who along with his exceptionally gifted friend, follower and fellow artist, Edgar Degas, helped to found a ‘immediate application’ method of painting that was to dominate painting in the twentieth century. Today the impressionists names roll off most artists tongues. The founder members included: Claude Monet, Frederic Bazille, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and perhaps Berthe Morisot to some extent. Manet himself, never placed himself in the group, and Degas was on the periphery. The impressionists wanted to create work with ‘immediacy’ to capture passing light and shade effects as it happened in front of them. Not that they were altogether on their own with this concept, in Italy painters were creating work ‘plein-air’ with more or less the same philosophy, these were known as the Macchiaioli group of artists (Tuscany), notable among them were Giuseppe Abbati and Cristiano Banti, to mention just two of a large group. The core of the impressionists group (Monet and Renoir) began moving inslightly different directions after a brief period of great acclaim. Monet continued to paint with immediateobservational methodology, but eventually enlarged his vision in his studio to reach almost abstraction inmuch of his final works (Waterlilies series).Renoir meanwhile pursued classical figurative canvas’s (studio based) until his death in 1919. Bazillehad been killed in action in the Franco Prussian war of 1870-1871. Camille Pissaro became a neo-impressionist, (a style founded by Seurat and Signac) at the age of 54. Pissaro died in 1903 at the age of73 years old only six years older than Cezanne himself. Alfred Sisley was largely overlooked as his ‘look’ ofpaintings was far too similar to that of Monet, although his colour sense was much more subtle. Cezanne,like Van Gogh and Gauguin should not be seen as landscape painters as such, as all three artists weremore concerned with expressions or forms of another kind and not specifically utilising nature as a mode oftransmitting ‘the sublime’ to a viewer. Gauguin influenced the new generation of painters by way of associating with them before he sought out ‘the primitive’ in the South seas. One famous line he wrote on colour which was picked up by the new generation of painters was; “How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion” These painters became to known as the ‘Fauves’ (wild beasts) after an art critic labelled their work in that way. The group were loosely based around the colour theories of Gauguin and they included; André Derain, Raoul Duffy, Henri Matisse and Maurice De Vlaminck. Yet another group of painters were also influenced directly by Gauguin. The Nabis (Prophet) Paul Sérusier painted a small work which had been directed by Gauguin. This “Talisman” has he viewed it, instigated the name the Nabis and foretold, visually, how painting nature should be in the future. The group included painters, who also admired Cezanne, included Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuilliard. All found their way to their unique individualistic art form through embarking first on landscape (nature) paintings. Landscape painting had become so ubiquitous as a subject that during the twentieth centuryvirtually every ‘new’ development in art included examples of the new ‘style’ using landscape as an ‘easyto relate to’ piece of work. Cubists painted landscapes, so did the Surrealists. American modernists suchas Arthur Dove, John Marin, Marsden Hartley and Georgia O’Keefe all embraced landscape painting andtranslated them into abstract compositions based on nature. Richard Diebenkorn and Helen Frankensteinamong many many others used the landscape motive to take the genre into another dimension where onlya mere suggestion of the natural world remained. However ‘nature’ or landscape, if you will, remained the ‘peg’ on which even those artists hung their ‘hats’. Perhaps Agnes Martin is a perfect example of a modern painter who despite following a ‘trend’ in her case minimalism, still gave acknowledgement to nature or natural forms in her paintings titles. So, what happened to Landscape painting in the latter part of the twentieth century for it to have had become, once again, frowned upon by Art institutions and major high street galleries? Was it that landscape art ceased to ‘liked’ by the buying public? Was it regarded as old hat and tired with nothing left in it, as a subject, to enable new and progressive Art? Did ‘installationism’ or rather ‘intelligent art’ finally push it to the extremities of artist considerations as a worthy subject to paint orwork with? As we entered the new century ‘Landscape Art’ has very much come back into its own again.What is clear is that the number of artists posting ‘landscape-paintings’ on social media and taking upexperiments with plein-air painting once again, has exploded in the last year or two.Original article edited from issue #5 November 2017 was written by ©Denis Taylor for painters Tubes magazine

56 22 contemporary artists and their work were featured in the “Landscape...before Poussin and today.” issue #5 Russel Howarth At 90 years old Russel is the longest living member of the Saddleworth Art Group. He has been painting the area around where he lives since around 1951. In 2017 he had a solo exhibition at the Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery. His work is widely known in the North West where Galleries have at least one example of his work. A great Artist of the North Martin Yeoman Martin is considered by many to be one of the finest draughtsman working today. His art is founded on the principle of ‘looking’ intently at his subject matter be it land- scape or portraiture, for which he is highly regarded. He has painted members of the Britsh Royal Family to todays Pop Stars. His work is in many collections throughout the world including the Royal Collection at Windsor. Colin Taylor Colin has been painting for over thrity years. His work is sought after by serious collectors and he is commissioned to create unique works for specific projects. Recently I have talking with Colin about his next series which includes documenting his feeling whilst climbing the mountains of South America. Tubes have offered to create a series of articles for this project. Ian Norris I met up with Ian in his former studio in Preston a year or so ago. Since then he has exhibited at a number of galleries both in the North and South of the UK. He has also moved to a new larger studio near his home. The new studio provides Ian with the right environment to develop his individual style and expriment with increasing the size of his format. I shall be visiting Ian next year to see how he is doing.

57“Landscape...before Poussin and today.” (issue #5) was one of themost read articles of 2017 David Evans I visited David at his Studio along with his Agent (Alan Evans) and was delighted to view his work both oil on canvas and pen and ink drwaing. These black and white drawing are quite superb and his paintings are not half bad either. He recently had his work shown within a group show, all though, personally, I would have liked to have seen a ‘solo’ show. Dean Entwistle I have spoken with and wrote extensively about Dean Entwistle over the last year or so. And his inclusion more times than once in this magazine is not by accident. He is n artist of interest for me personally as I can see him ‘maturing’ into pure autheintic original paintings as a contemporary Art-Form I shall wait to see if that will occur. Brue Lyons Having only spent a short time in Bruce’s studio, you would think I do not know much about his art. However, he is one of those artists that doesn’t need to talk much. His art says it all. I shall be meeting up with him in 2018 and intend to write a full feature on him and his work which I find fascinating. Steve Capper I have interviewed Steve, both formally and informally (at a Gal- lery show of his work). Steve is one of life’s gentlemen. His years of teching Art cost him the loss of enthusism to paint his own work. On his early retirement he began painting again. Now he is like an artist possessed, with canvas after canvas. I’m keen to see how this energy will show itself.

58 “Landscape paintings have been the number One best selling gen- ré of Art for over four or more decades in the UK.” Jake Attree It was at Contemporary Six Gallery in Manchester UK that i first viewed one of Jake paintings. I had wanted to interview him, sadly our lines of communication didn’t match up. I am very inter- ested in his figurative work for a special issue Tubes are planning. I shall have to contact him again and make plans to visit his studios in Halifax (Yorshire, UK). Colin Haliday I met Colin at another artists exhibition in Autumn of this year (2017). He has a firm fix on on Art and listens to no one, which I think, is a very good attitude for an artist to have. He creates his painting in all weathers ‘plein air’ and utilises the natural environment of where he lives (Derbyshire). I am to interview him for a feature in Tubes in January. Arista Alanis The large studio work of Arista are abstractions of the natural world and her own relationship towards it. Her paintings are gestural in application and applies the paint with sensations of intimate memo- ries. Originally from Texas, USA, she is currently the Community Arts Program co-ordinator at the Vermount studio Centre, Vermount, USA. David Bez Dave is an original in every sense of the word. He is a painter but also an illustrator and glass designer who experiments in these very different disciplines. He finds operating in these spheres enable him to re-appraise his work and mix and match from them. He like the dynaic approach this gives him which results in a pure distinctive style and image.

59“there are more “plein-air” Landcsape painters today than at anyother time in history of Art.”Alison TyldesleyThe work that Alison produces isinstinctive in its creation process.Her compositions are broad withsweeping visitas and remind meof Sweden when I first came, wayback in 1994. The space gives onetime to refelect on life more deeplythan say being in a City. These arethe sensations Alsion imbues inher art, Perhaps that is why she isdoing well in Gallery exhibitions.Laurence Causse ParsleyI came to know Laurence througha Gallery in London. When I firstviewed her work it immdiateleyappealed to my sense of colour.Strong, vibrant and fiery. Laurenceis French, but has lived in manyparts of the world. She has studioin London and next year I hopeto visit her (among other artists)when I next get to London forTubes magazine.Chris CyprusWhen I first visited this artist in hisstudios I was impressed by the wayhe had created not only a place topaint, but also a very niceproportioned display place that hadthe feel of a Gallery. He told me in theearly days, not one (gallery) wantedto know his work. And consequentlyhe had to go it alone. Today, that’snot the case and Chris is now inGalleries, and selling often and well.Beverley O’DonoghueA charming and natural artist Bevis not new to the Art World, butshe is new to discovering andhaving confidence in her owntalent. I believe she has much tooffer painting in general. Her jobinvolves working with autisticchildren which is a demandingcalling in itself. This may wellprovide her with the inspiration toreach another level.

60 “Abstract” Landscape paintings are posted more on social media than any other génre of Art. Harry Robertson A classic painter, Harry is one of the ‘Ten’ artists in the exhibition featured in this issue. His background as teacher shows through his work in the way he details and pays attention to light and tone and the harmony of colour. It’s almost a photographic feel, but one has to admire his skill and talent and dedication in all the work he creates. Arwyn Quick I stumbled upon Arwyn’s work on the web. The abstractions were not highlighted on his web site (now I think they are). The first impressions are stunning as he uses a dramatic colour pallete to gain the impact the work makes on the eye. What is so pleasing is that now his abstract work is in the acendence with collectors and galleries are taking notice. Diane Terry Diane and I chatted for quite a while at her studios about Women and Art and how female artists are not represented in commercial galleries. I asked her to write an article for the magazine which she did. (issue # 3). She told me that after publication it caused some controversey. But, she did get her work featured in a Manchester central gallery (Saul Hay Gallery). Phil Ashley Phil is a relative newby to painting, although his background has been rooted in creative photography. His work shows this by the almost surreal style that his work is created in. He also uses high toned colours which accentuate the surrealist feel of his work. Luckily for Phil, he is a resident art with a gallery which affords him time to perfect his compositions.

61“Landscape...before Poussin and today.” (issue #5) was one of themost read articles of 2017 Ron Coleman This artist has been painting for many years and has had a high level of success in galleries around the North West of England. Colour and form create his own visions which are abstracted from memories of places he has visited. He takes an active role in local Art collectives and exhibitions and is instrumental in organising the Open Contemporary Exhibition. Richard Clare I visited Richard in his studio and thought it was too late to include him in the Landscape feature. But, as luck would have it, I did. Rich- ard is a gentle artist who loves spending time in Italy painting plein air. His studio work is very appealing, if not totally originally in application. However, what is unusual about him is that he is colour blind, but it’s not obvious, as you can see. Denis in his studio “The Landscape feature forpainting one of the “2nd issue #5 was probably the most difficult assignment to date. Nature” series of Especially when it came to ‘editing’ paintings which artists to include and which to hold over. Fortunateley I was aware that painters Tubes will publish a Landscape ‘part two’ during the course of 2018. And so I felt condident that the work that was submitted will shown at some point in time. All the artists I know or have known has, at some point, turned their attention to creating ‘nature’ work - I am included in that list. I would like to thank all the 22 artists shown here for their participation and affording me the time to provide words and reproducing their work. Denis Taylor - Artist.

Richard Fitton in his studio photograph©Denis Taylor 201762 painters Tubes magazine - Upcoming features for 2018. Next year Tubes will be taking a look at contemporary figure painting in the UK and the USA. Tubes will also be featuring a number of artists including Richard Fitton (image above) and Colin Halliday in the first issue of 2018. The magazine will also be talking to a producer of special oil paints (Marc Turner or Turner Oils). “Spike” returns in the shape of George Barry (art critic), fresh from his world wide trip, no doubt full of critical comment about Art in the contemporary art world. Register now as a preview reader by emailing: [email protected]

63painters Tubes magazinewish all our readers a very prosperous and creative New Year painters Tubes magazine is designed and produced by Studio 5 Publishing Sweden. It is published on specialist magazine digital platforms. Tubes magazine is printed and distributed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain

64 ebook availble on-line and in print Januray-February 2018 reserve your printed copy by emailing: [email protected] ©2017 Studio 5 Digital Publishing Sweden