Kristan Baggaley 'Visionary Landscape' from 7 April 2007

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE OPENING OF OUR EXHIBITION OF NEW PAINTINGS BY KRISTAN BAGGALEY

Visionary Landscape

SATURDAY 7 APRIL 2007 BETWEEN 11AM AND 3PM
The gallery is open Wednesday - Sunday 10am - 5pm

Kristan Baggaley was born in Sheffield on the border with the Peak District. The area has inspired his work, culminating in this exhibition ofover 20 new oil paintings which emphasise his deep engagement with the landscape and his passion for painting.

Kristan studied Fine Art in Nottingham and Birmingham before moving back to Sheffield 15 years ago with his partner Lucy, drawn back by the open landscape of the Dark Peak. He now lives in the city with his two children, Katie and Ben and his dog Dot. Turner has always been the artist who has most inspired his painting and in his studio he feels creatively moved when listening to the music of Avro Part.

Kristan Baggaley's work is synonymous with the Dark Peak District. His heavily textured paintings of the moors and grit edges in all seasons and weather describe and explore the fall of light, cloud and shadows over immense distances. Although his paintings are usually specific to particular places in the landscape, abstracted visionary qualities become uppermost.

The layered depths in these landscapes correspond to the memory and association connected with familiar places. Baggaley knows the land so well that the moors in all their guises have become a metaphor for intimations of hope and harmony that are only to be found in nature. His paintings incorporate both an experienced reality and exploration of his feelings that can find a universal appeal. Baggaley believes that in painting the familiar subject matter, the inessential falls away leaving the essential. He has a strong belief in never painting anything he does not fully understand.

The surface of the work is all-important and he drags and cuts the material around the canvas, using forks and combs to plough the paint as a farmer may work his fields. In his technique he adds fine sand to the oil paint, which he applies with large palette knives and decorator's brushes. Sketchbook work is all-important when considering composition and colour. Indian ink and thick graphite pencils are important medias in this preparatory work and the movement and action of mark making are gestures learnt for the subsequent canvas work.

Kristan Baggaley believes that without a strong spiritual connection and feeling for his subject matter the work could never effectively communicate to an audience.