An exhibition of landscape paintings Cranleigh Arts Centre 31st March – 18th April
Main photo: Across the fields in a storm
This exhibition brings together more than a decade of work by local artist Max Aiken, tracing his personal journey through landscapes both familiar and far and wide. Since retiring in 2010, Max has devoted himself more fully to painting—a lifelong passion—and has developed a distinctive approach he describes as abstract landscapes.
He works mainly in oil, often in conjunction with graphite. He says “my pictures occupy the gap between Realism and Abstraction. A photograph can capture the reality of a landscape precisely; an ‘abstract painting’ of the same view depends mainly on colour and form to convey the same sense of place. This is a real challenge, as I try to push a scene towards abstraction”.
For Max the act of creating a painting has to be exciting. He starts with the question to himself “What is it that excites me about this place, this view?” After studying the place or view, with sketches and photos, he works through this frame of mind until he has a collection of 10 or so paintings on a theme, or until the excitement fades. “I then need to be reenergised with a new subject matter. Hence the Welsh Castles series, or Yorkshire Dales, or Lulworth. Each destination offers its own visual language, mood, and rhythm”.
Through his expressive use of colour and texture, Max captures not just the appearance of a place, but its atmosphere and emotional imprint. The result is a series of works that resonate with memory, movement, and a sensitivity to the uniqueness of each landscape. He has used the surroundings in which he has lived, and the many places to which he has travelled as the inspiration for his subject matter. You will see landscapes from his travels in the UK, the Canaries, Italy, Greece and Egypt.
A Sense of Place invites you on a journey through these different landscapes—to see the world not just as it is, but what it feels like.
Max Aiken
Tel: 079768 20655
Email: [email protected]
www.maxaiken.com
