Land, Sea and Sky – David Carpanini PPRE Hon RWS RWA NEAC
Monday May 30, 2022
For each of us there are certain scenes and subjects which readily provoke responses that might eventually manifest themselves in pictorial form. Quite simply, my inspiration lies in the contemplation of the familiar. For the greater part of my career that process was almost exclusively nourished by the stark landscape, close knit, often claustrophobic social infrastructure of the Afan Valley where I grew up.
Quietly, I began using that experience to explore aspects of the human condition, such as fear, loneliness, dignity, pride and hope; concepts with which we can all identify regardless of personal circumstances or background.
Whilst I still reference my knowledge and relationship with what were sometimes the harsh realities of the former industrial valleys, Wales is also a land of enormous contrasts and variety of scenery. There are great skies, stretches of coast and sea, rolling hills, spectacular mountains, rivers, woods and galaxies of historic structures which arrest the eye and provoke the imagination.
Being known as a watcher of people and observer of social circumstance has never precluded me from engaging with subjects which can also stimulate an understanding of other corners of reality. Indeed, I have always enjoyed the challenge of formal portrait commissions and often explored my Italian roots with serial drawings, etchings and paintings focussed in the towns and landscape of north and central Italy. Also, my contemplative instinct to quietly ponder the impact of changing weather conditions on familiar country and shoreline scenes has resulted in many studies of subjects rarely associated with my general professional practice.
It was a chance conversation with Sharon Wheaton at the Fosse Gallery concerning this aspect of my work which led to these pictures being assembled for this exhibition.
David Carpanini. May 2022.
