Harbours and Havens

Gardiner’s first exhibition at Portland Gallery after joining in the autumn of 2023. Harbours and Havens consists of a body of new, never exhibited landscape paintings and a smaller selection of historical works which help illustrate the artist’s process and development over the last 15 years.

All the paintings on view are concerned with the artist’s exploration and close observation of the Southern English coast. On the latest work, Gardiner states: “My new series of work, Harbours and Havens continues my prolonged meditation on the south coast. The paintings focus on the evolution of coastal landforms that have been shaped and sculpted by the energy of the sea, wearing away and depositing in equal measure; processes that echo my own working methods.” There is a particular emphasis on Cornwall, Dorset and Devon. Gardiner’s richly textured paintings use painterly effects to describe the strata and geology of the landscape, capturing both the scale and character of the view. As Gardiner describes, “The paintings are layered in complex ways to evoke monumental geological processes.”