Kristan Baggaley |
Kristan Baggaley is particularly interested in the dramas of nature – the sun rising and setting, strong winds, craggy rocks, high places, rain storms, ice and snow. The Dark peak District has always drawn him to its grit stone edges and open moorland. It is an area he was born near and he has lived on its borders for most of his life. It is a landscape sculpted by natural forces, including mankind, over thousands of years. The layering and weathering of its elements has caused Baggaley to use thick textural qualities in his paining, sand and other materials often being added to the paint. The layering of paint may take many months of patiently applying and removing the surface and several more weeks in drying. He has a very physical approach to his work, using sandpaper, chisels, paint strippers and various scrapers. Most of the paint is applied with large palette and painting knives. Dripping and flicking globules of paint helps to give the sense of the fluid and evolving nature of landscape and to reinforce its lack of permanence.