Oil on board, 36” x 48”
This series of paintings of key places in Spain’s past are not conventional landscapes, as they trace the history of Spanish towns and cities in their landscape from earliest times to the present, using techniques of medieval narrative paintings as well as contemporary abstraction. The historical memory of each place is evoked by symbols or images of its evolution through time, allowing the viewer to piece together its history as a visual narrative. That memory of the past is highly varied, yet also has an underlying unity created by successive generations of Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples who inhabited the Spanish Peninsula and who give it a unique yet ambiguous identity.
There are fifteen landscapes in the series, painted in oil and mixed media, including acrylic metallic spray paint, one of my favourite mediums, collaged photos and old documents, and materials which evoke the substance and texture of each place.
