The fragmented landscape
Oliver Gaiger’s work, on display this month at Celf Gallery in Cardiff, reflects colours and forms from the landscape while creating something entirely new, writes Jenny White
OLIVER Gaiger has lived in Llandewi Brefi on the edge of the Cambrian Mountains for 18 years, during which time the surrounding landscape has seeped into the very bones of his work.
While stopping far short of figurative depiction, his use of colour and form reflects the drystone walls, field boundaries, grey rocks and green hillsides experienced on countless country walks.
He’s especially drawn to evidence of the ways in which people have interacted with nature: baling twine tied to a tree, tumbledown fences, and other traces of agriculture.
“I find these things visually fascinating – they have a sort of physical poetry, and when I’m drawing, some of those shapes will come into it: tracks and paths, agricultural forms – shapes that can be abstracted.”
His work also reflects his experience of the elements: the fierce wind, the touch of the rain, and the way being out there in nature affects him internally.
“These things are slightly more difficult to express figuratively, and they influence how I approach an image,” he says. “Hopefully there will be an emotive element – feelings that come out of the imagery that express some of these things.
“I’m the only person who knows the origins of these elements. To someone else, it’s abstract, and these elements still have a meaning, but they are now out of context, so you’re not asking someone to view it as a figurative thing anymore: there’s a disconnect which allows you to see those things in many ways.
“It’s not prescriptive, and I like the idea that someone can make their own decision about it – but hopefully the essence of what’s behind it will inform that decision.”
Gaiger came to Wales by a circuitous route: he was born in Uganda, then his father’s job as a lawyer took the family to Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Falkland Islands, and finally Cornwall.
He went on to study illustration at the University of Middlesex, and after graduating in 1994, he took on commercial illustration work for clients such as The National Theatre, The Terence Higgins Trust, and VSO, as well as setting up an art studio in London with a friend, with the aim of pursuing fine art.
“The illustration work was gratifying, but I was always looking to other areas to try and get things down on paper or canvas that I would appreciate for my own reasons, and would fulfil more precisely what I wanted to achieve – so it came to a point where I felt pushed to focus more on that, even though it was a bit of a wrench because the illustration was how I was earning money.”
A move from London to Skye, where he set up his own studio and immersed himself in the drama of the landscape, helped solidify his move to fine art, and by the time he moved to Wales his path was set.
His style reflects not only his love of wild walks, but also the early influences of living in Cornwall, where he discovered work of the St Ives School artists, including Barbara Hepworth and Roger Hilton. Other influences include William Scott, Victor Pasmore, Cy Twombly, Patrick Heron and Alexander Calder.
In terms of media, he is highly versatile. He maintains a passion for printmaking, which began when he was 15. Other media, besides oil painting, include relief constructions and sculptures.
“I’m interested in using any medium I can work with – I try to make the most of the material’s ability to portray what I want to portray. It’s also refreshing to move on to a different medium and a different way of looking at similar themes and motifs – interactions with the environment around me, or ideas – but trying to reflect those through a different medium.
“One piece can then feed back into another area in another piece of work; so I can take the experience of doing, say, a sculpture in steel, and that can then be reflected back into a print or a painting, and provide an interconnected but separate way of looking at the same subject.”
As he works through the process, the initial stimuli become increasingly abstracted – so while he might begin with representative sketches and photographs, it’s usually a small motif which is extracted to be used as a basis for a painting, and then reformed as the creative process continues – sometimes over many months.
Elements are drawn not only from his exploration of the local landscape, but also from his travels abroad – and these are sometimes combined within one artwork.
“As I’m creating a composition, those pieces might come together and coalesce to form something that I think looks visually correct,” he says.
Elements of humour emerge too: playful arrangements of shapes that hint at animals or people while remaining relatively abstract, ‘to reflect life back towards us, to suggest a smidgen of its essence, and to emphasise the absurdity of it all.’
His latest show, at Celf Gallery in Cardiff, features around 30 works of brain-tingling freshness – hypnotic interactions of colour and form that invite the viewer to partake in the act of creation.
For Gaiger, making these works is an essential part of how he relates to the world around him.
“There’s a sense of satisfaction that means I’ve carried on, and that drives me forward,” he says. “I’m always looking at the world around me, and I want to represent that in some way; I want to react to that, and my way to react to that is to create something visual. I don’t really have an alternative.” ■■ Oliver Gaiger’s exhibition opens today at Celf Gallery, Roath Park Hall, Bangor Street, Cardiff, and runs until May 12. Visit www. celfgallery.com