Momentary – Water Meadow, Hill, Boundless Sky

Increasingly, I hear David refer to duration in relation to his paintings. By this I feel he alludes to a timelessness in the landscape, but also gradual changes wrought upon it by the seasons, as well as the momentary, infinite shifts in light. In the landscape, time can be both barely moving and ephemeral.

But duration also hints at resistance – endurance, durability – and there is something correspondingly solid and unequivocal in his paintings: qualities that are lasting and that can be a comfort to us.

Coincidentally, I sense that he is committed these days to leaving room in his work for interpretation, presenting a scene in such a way as to offer something not wholly fixed. Not so much ‘capturing’ the landscape, but allowing it in, onto the canvas, so that the viewer might then complete the task.

This corresponds with his intention of continuing to incorporate new methods of spontaneity into his practice – to relay what he finds without judgement or imposition.

One other thing I’ve only recently become aware of is how much dedication the act of painting en plein air requires. Aside from the effort of carrying all the equipment out into the wilds and of working on large canvasses in all weathers, there are the demands of the sustained sessions of observing and painting.

I’m glad David is prepared to pursue this process. His paintings are to be treasured and the more of them there are in this the world the better for all of us.

Mick Jackson (Writer and Author)

David’s paintings are awash with light and colour. They are vibrant and luminous and a joy to the viewer’s eye, capturing the beauty of the Sussex landscape through his unique perspective and inspiring us to view his work as that of a serious contemporary British landscape artist.

Maya Coppen (Arundel Contemporary Gallery Owner)

 

 

“We are delighted to be showing a large collection of Sussex artist David Scott Moore’s work in the gallery. Multi award winning Moore shows a mastery of light and atmosphere and a great understanding of place.  Much of his work is ‘en plein air’ – hours spent outdoors in all weathers trying to catch moods, colours and always changing light pays off handsomely in this beautiful series of paintings”

‘Exhibition brochure’ – click here

Robin Cameron (Cameron Contemporary Gallery Owner)

 

Reflections on Wildbrooks – Exhibition Foreword

I once heard the author Rose Tremain talk about the importance of ‘place’ – of the profound and immediate impact on the reader at the very mention of the word ‘field’ or ‘sky’ or ‘shore’.  Our lives, of late, have been defined by confinement so we shouldn’t be surprised if we now find ourselves craving nature and its wide horizons – to feel its benevolent impact on us, after so much time in which that has been denied. 

David has explained to me how painting ‘en plein air’ provokes an intuitive response to what the artist sees before them – something that is not easily recaptured back in the studio.  In his essay, Walking, Henry David Thoreau wrote that, ‘When a traveler asked Wordsworth’s servant to show him her master’s study, she answered, ‘Here is his library, but his study is out of doors.’ 

David has also told me about his days out at Amberley Wild Brooks: the changes he witnessed, week by week, hour by hour.  I envy him that time and the prospect of bringing that openness – that sense of space – home with him. 

At first, I was convinced that some of the appeal of David’s new collection of paintings was the fact that they were free from the presence of people.  More recently, I’ve come to see how these landscapes are, in fact, inhabited.  In the center of some of the larger paintings a pair of diminutive trees stand, one slightly more distinct than the other – composed, I imagine, with no more than a few strokes of a brush.  Yet we pick them out; they serve as our compass. 

In David’s other paintings there are more eminent trees – trees that change, like the surrounding landscape, through the seasons.  But I see now that even those paintings with no trees at all are deeply inhabited – by sky, by hills, by water – and ultimately, of course, by us, the observer.  David went out and observed, responded, recorded.  Now we occupy that same perspective, in his stead. 

 Mick Jackson

“…Moore takes you into the wild, where there is barely a trace of mankind, and brings you back the communion he has had with the elements…” 

Review of Sussex Arts Magazine – ROSA Magazine

 “A visual equivalent of unfolding time.”

Geoff Hands  (Artist & Writer)

“Impressive gestural, expressive … I loved the scraping tree structures.”

 Nicholas Carrick  (Artist)

“This is a must see show!  Great work beautifully  pitched, executed and presented.”

 Julian Vilurrabi  (Artist)