Nick Archers new landscape paintings focus on our relationship with the natural world and its place in our imagination. The works are at first glance made from beautiful passages of rich colour which have been flooded onto the canvas, exposing interior landscapes that echo hollow fear and an inner amazement like a child watching an abandoned fairground coming alight in the dark. An imaginary landscape where a seemingly enchanted landscape lifts off the canvas and into the mind’s eye.
The new series of forest paintings Archer has made are like a scene from a dark fairy tale. Rows of trees often lead to a distant light which guides the viewer through the forest. Archer sees the forest paintings as a metaphor for the passage of time and our journey through life. This theme is also reflected in the process of how the paintings are made: Layer upon layer of coloured oil paint and leaves of gold foil build a rich surface which reveals the passage of time like the layers of a rock formation.
