My recent paintings and drawings have been inspired by my perception of a part of the natural world that exists alongside the suburban environment in which I live.
Each of my works contain a number of images that have been generated as a part of a more outwardly expressive and intuitive approach to the activity of making and thinking about painting. Images of plant and animal forms coalesce and combine, and tensions between seemingly opposite impulses, ideas and working practices are explored in each of the paintings.
Although the initial stages of each painting are completed on location in Epping Forest, working directly from and in the woodland, the images they contain are not necessarily meant to be interpreted in a strictly literal manner. There is a great deal of improvisation and reassessment in each painting and as such there can be a great deal of flexibility in terms of what each painting contains. For example, the shape of a puddle or the rotting texture of a tree stump are as important in terms of being sources of meaningful and relevant imagery as a view of a place when observed from a certain distance or viewpoint. In this way, my works are somewhat removed from the desire to produce a realistic, representational view of a landscape, (even though they are still very much based on an experience of a tangible exterior environment). Instead, the paintings move closer to a position that reflects more of an interior, metaphysical territory. This is an emotional space, where phenomena found in the outside world is reflected and revealed in a manner which is an aesthetic and conceptual composite of a multi-faceted, immersive experience.
Edwin Aitken
If you would like to visit the exhibition and are not a member of the College or the University, please email mail@edwinaitken.com for an invite. The artist will be present in the exhibition on Saturday 11th and Monday 13th November from 2pm to 5pm. Refreshments will be available.
Edwin Aitken was born in Manchester. He studied Fine Art at Loughborough College of Art and Design and Painting at the Royal College of Art. He has exhibited throughout the UK and his work is held in private collections in England and the USA.
