ALAN RANKLE : WILDERNESS APPROACHING - Exhibition - ArtLyst
08/11/2012 12:15
Network with ArtLyst!
LONDON ART NETWORK
HOME
MAGAZINE
LISTINGS
MEMBERS
CLASSIFIEDS
JOBS
ABOUT
CONTACT
SIGN-IN
JOIN
SEARCH EVENTS
OUR SPONSORS
Exhibition
ALAN RANKLE : WILDERNESS
APPROACHING - the blackShed
gallery
ALAN RANKLE : WILDERNESS
APPROACHING
Visiting the blackShed gallery near
Robertsbridge in East Sussex is quite
an experience. A turn off an
anonymous stretch of the A21 takes
you down an anonymous country lane
into an anonymous looking farm into
an equally anonymous looking former
chicken shed. The shed houses the
gallery – hence the name. The
adventure of getting there makes one
feel much more than a mere observer. So it’s quite fitting that once inside,
the revelation of the current exhibition Alan Rankle : Wilderness
Approaching also pulls one out of the ordinary and into an otherworldly
dimension.
Oldham born Rankle is most often defined as a landscape painter albeit with
a mission to revitalise the genre by challenging and uprooting traditional
ways of painting. True enough, he does paint iconic and powerful oils on
canvas which reference Turner and other classicists. But, as this latest
exhibition shows, Rankle is moved by the sense of otherness, the magic,
brutality and wilderness of the natural world; and yet at the same time
follows the formalism of his hero Francis Bacon. He paints as the romantic
poets wrote verse. Wild, untamed, adventurous yet at the same time
elegant, restrained and with perfect narrative form. Looking at some of
these new works it’s as if Coleridge’s famous poem Kubla Khan had come
to life on Rankle’s canvas.
RECOMMENDED ART BOOKS
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
One can almost hear the sound of the poet’s pen scribbling furiously, both
poet and viewer standing on the same windswept Yorkshire moor as dusk
sets. Few landscape artists, historical or contemporary, have the power of
Rankle to drag the viewer so firmly up and along into the scene, so much
so that you are left feeling mildly unsettled. You are not only viewing the
work, you become part of it. I suspect if Coleridge were alive today he and
Buy Recommended Art Books
TWITTER FEED
@artlyst1 LIVE
file:///Users/kentonlowe/Documents/ALAN%20RANKLE%20:%20WILDERNESS%20APPROACHING%20-%20Exhibition%20-%20ArtLyst.webarchive
Page 1 of 3
ALAN RANKLE : WILDERNESS APPROACHING - Exhibition - ArtLyst
Rankle would be drinking buddies, downing the next Absinthe chaser before
a brisk walk across the wild terrain.
As Kenton Lowe, the enterprising director of the blackShed gallery
enthusiastically tells me, Rankle has had a busy year with solo exhibitions in
Canada, and Copenhagen as well as taking part in group shows in London,
Milan and Bolonga. Each canvas takes weeks, sometimes months of
layering texture upon texture until it is finished. However, it’s no surprise to
learn that in the weeks leading up to this exhibition at the blackShed gallery
Rankle had a rare period of space and reflection. The works exhibited were
started, then left, then returned to, then left again, then worked on some
more, until finally here they hang in a former chicken shed. This is some of
Rankle’s most powerful and thought provoking work to date and the unusual
setting couldn’t be more fitting for an artist who has never shied away from
risk.
Rankle's Northern roots also play a large part in his visual narrative. From
the depictions of moor and dale to the angry gestural splashes of colour
emblazoned across the canvas. He often creates a classic topographical
image and distorts and manipulates it to reveal a sense of a viscerally real
place. For him the unstable environment we inhabit is inextricably linked to
the brash politics and economic woes of our time. He wears his heart on his
sleeve in much of the work in Wilderness Approaching, the title taken from
a song by John Cale wherein a sign warns of "wilderness approaching, take
great care" as though nature were another roadside attraction to view at a
distance. This is perhaps most visible in City on the Edge of Change – a
staggeringly visceral piece where a lone tree stands in what might be a river
bed or what might equally be a scene of post nuclear devastation or the
setting for a Scandinavian horror film. Only an artist as comprehensively
gifted as Rankle could hint at underlying dark forces beneath outlying light
and beauty. Across the canvas are scrawled the words: Falling Earth. In
Enigma : Light of the World an unmistakably English moor and deep sky are
daubed with eerie white splashes of paint, as if a tornado of angry light had
passed across. And in Wilderness Approaching – the painting from which the
exhibition takes its name, a falling leaf and gestural sweeps of black warn of
the impending storm which lurks broodingly at the back of the depicted
moorland scene.
It’s only an hour’s drive from London and I urge metropolitan art lovers to
make the effort to visit this exhibition at such a unique gallery. The
experience of the blackShed is remarkable, but don’t be fooled by the
simple exterior of the chicken shed. This new gallery under the direction of
Mr Lowe is already making a name for itself with a series of shows by
internationally recognised artists including Kirsten Reynolds, who works
across a spectrum of painting, photography and installation and who's
collaborative exhibitions with Rankle as Rankle & Reynolds have gained
critical plaudits in Italy, Switzerland and Denmark where they have found a
enthusiastically receptive audience; and Andrew Kotting, who was recently
described on Radio 4's Front Row as the UK's best independent film-maker.
The blackShed also presents younger artists currently receiving critical
acclaim such as Robert Sample, a painter who is also reinventing classical
tradition with his brooding and dark but strikingly fresh and modern takes
on the old Dutch masters.
08/11/2012 12:15
@artlyst1 LIVE
artinberlin Turner Prize 2012
Exhibition Tour - by artlyst art-intv.de/art-tv-ext.php…
3 hours ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
PeteDoherty_com NEWS: Yoko Ono
Appointed Director Of 2013
Southbank's Meltdown Festival ArtLyst bit.ly/RXpgQO
13 hours ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
ArtLyst1 Henry Moore Sculpture Sold
As Mayor Defies Public Opinion
artlyst.com/articles/henry…
@henrymoorefdn
14 hours ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
alexfenyvesi Yoko Ono Appointed
Director Of 2013 Southbank's
Meltdown Festival - ArtLyst:
ArtLystYoko Ono Appointed ...
bit.ly/Z0SW4G --- #art
Join the conversation
@artlyst1 LIVE
HantsArts
RT @ArtLyst1:
#yokoono
SUBSCRIBE
ARTLYST
NEWSLETTER
Appointed Director Of 2013
Southbank's Meltdown Festival
FIRST NAME
artlyst.com/articles/yoko-…
@southbankcentre
12 minutes
LAST NAME
ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
thircuir Zeng Fanzhi First UK Show
China's Leading Artist - ArtLystJOIN
EMAIL For
ADDRESS
bit.ly/VUCdfW
pic.twitter.com/lQITQtvo
2 hours ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
ArsMagazine
RT @artinberlin:
DOWNLOAD
ARTLYST
FREE Turner
APP
Prize 2012 Exhibition Tour - by
artlyst art-in-tv.de/art-tv-ext.php…
3 hours ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
FREE iPhone app
3 new tweetsThe
ArtLyst
iPhone App
featured
artinberlin Turner Prize
2012 on
Exhibition Tour - by iTunes
artlyst art-inas new
and noteworthy
Join the conversation
has had over
15,000
downloads. This
is the most
>> Download Here! comprehensive
London art exhibitions guide for people
on the move - Download It Now - Free.
After the hype and gimmickery of much in the contemporary art world, it’s
genuinely refreshing to see painting being honoured as it deserves. And
don’t be fooled by the apparent simplicity of the received description of
Rankle as a landscape painter. His politics, his urgency - are vital. His
message is now.
Nadene Ghouri
file:///Users/kentonlowe/Documents/ALAN%20RANKLE%20:%20WILDERNESS%20APPROACHING%20-%20Exhibition%20-%20ArtLyst.webarchive
Page 2 of 3