Widely regarded as one of Britain’s most inventive landscape painters, Tress’s third solo show explores his own Pembrokeshire, as well as Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, and other parts of England.
Returning to the same place time and time again, Tress moves beyond a landscape's immediate appearance and evokes a state of mind: a sense of self in relation to place, its primordial history, and the wild, cyclical rhythms of the seasons and elements. Expressing a visceral response, his paintings thus establish a dialogue between topography and abstraction.
This expressionist aspect is heightened by Tress's almost sculptural images. Realised on thick handmade papers that he alternately tears, layers, scores and scrapes, his paintings enact landscape's transformation through perception, memory and emotion. They also access elemental truths, suggesting erosion and the impact of wind and weather.
Coinciding with Tress's solo show and 60th birthday, we are launching 'David Tress,' a new monograph by renowned writer and art critic Andrew Lambirth. The result of twenty years of friendship and collaboration with Tress, it provides exceptional insight into the artist's vibrant, humanistic landscapes and includes seven poems by Lambirth that engage with Tress's work.
Saturday 16th May, 12pm: Tress will be in the Gallery to discuss his new work and sign copies of Andrew Lambirth's 'David Tress.'