Drawn to the Coast

In Gardiner’s paintings we find the same sensation as when walking among mountains – of man’s staggering insignificance, and the consequent sense of liberation at being so small and so transitory an episode in the greater scheme of things.

Gardiner includes reflections in his paintings – large areas of echo and repeated presence. He paints a composite version of the sea, full of hidden depths, quartered by small boats, a sounding board of colour and contrast. Likewise he paints a composite of the land, not only in terms of its geological and human history, but in terms of its appearance at different times of day and in different seasons. He evokes the spirit of place, its mood, with a mixture of broad-brush treatment and contrastingly fine areas of drawing. Some are densely detailed with hairline drawing, such as the St Ives group, others are more obviously abstract with larger areas of colour carrying the emotional charge of the image; all are immensely atmospheric.

Gardiner’s surfaces are fully animated and articulated first by drawing and then by the atmospherics of colour and texture. His is a highly creative use of line in conjunction with colour-area and stain and splash. He is keen on the fruitful contrast between the built environment and the natural context, focusing on architecture but also on the movement of tides, the sprung rhythms of rock and earth. The hidden structures of landscape are ably suggested by the processes he uses: in his drawings he goes beneath the surface, much as he reveals the unseen procedures in nature, the history of the rock through its strata.

Gardiner’s distinctive laminar landscapes reveal their layered meanings only over time – this is not instant art, but art which discloses itself gradually. Its richness matches the complexity of the world it seeks to evoke, and offers back an interpretation of it which is both personal and penetrating.

Andrew Lambirth

Drawn to the Coast

Anvil Point lighthouse from above Tilly Whim caves II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Bull Point lighthouse from above II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Bull Point lighthouse from above IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Bull Point lighthouse from MS Oldenburg I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Bull Point lighthouse I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Bull Point lighthouse III 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Bull Point lighthouse IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Godrevy lighthouse I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Godrevy lighthouse II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Godrevy lighthouse IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Hartland Point lighthouse from above I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Hartland Point lighthouse from above IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Hartland Point lighthouse I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Hartland Point lighthouse II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lizard lighthouse and chimneys II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy North lighthouse and granite outcrop II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy North lighthouse from above I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy North lighthouse from above II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy North lighthouse from above III 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy North lighthouse from above IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy South lighthouse from above I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy South lighthouse from above III 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lundy South lighthouse from below III 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lynmouth foreland lighthouse I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lynmouth foreland lighthouse II 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Lynmouth foreland lighthouse IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Needles lighthouse I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Needles lighthouse IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Portland Bill Lighthouse near Pulpit Rock IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Anthony’s lighthouse from below I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Anthony’s lighthouse III 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Catherine’s lighthouse III 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Ives, gradation of dusk 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Ives, low tide 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Ives, overlooking the harbour 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

St Ives, rooftops, August 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Start Point lighthouse from above IV 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Trevose Head lighthouse I 2017

Acrylic and mixed media on handmade cotton rag paper 30cm x 42cm

Drawn to the Coast

Paisnel Gallery 2017

Drawn to the Coast

Paisnel Gallery 2017

Drawn to the Coast

Paisnel Gallery 2017