Featuring original paper collages, scraperboard and prints the exhibition continues from Ed Kluz’s first show with John Martin Gallery in 2015 and explores contemporary perceptions of the past through the reimagining of historic landscapes, buildings and objects. The ideas of early Romanticism, the picturesque movement and antiquarian representations of topography and architecture underpin his approach to image making.

His enchantment with the once-great country houses, ruins and the memory of lost British Architecture has lead to them becoming the mirage-like subject of his work. Their ubiquitous pomp and eccentricities as well as the intriguing stories that surround them, filled with history and memory captures Kluz’s attention time and time again. This fascination has become manifest in Pastscapes. Animated, meticulous and at times dark, these hauntingly quiet reimagining’s of the houses of the past, set in candescent landscapes conjure ideas of memory and the past. As Kluz explains ‘I have chosen to show the houses more like ghosts, existing in surreal, dream-like landscapes illuminated by theatrical lighting.’ The result is powerful image making by meticulous craft and paper collaging skill.

The exhibition runs at John Martin Gallery, in Albemarle Street, from 4th October 2017 until 28th October 2017. All works included in Pastscapes are available to purchase, alongside his latest book ‘The Lost Houses Revisited’ £35 Published by Merrell, with contributions by Tim Knox, Olivia Horsfall-Turner and foreword by John Harris. (The official book launch shall be on Wednesday 4th Oct form 6-8pm at the gallery). Following on from the exhibition at John Martin Gallery, Ed Kluz presents his largest exhibition to date at the prestigious Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Titled Sheer Folly – Fanciful Buildings of Britain, the collection of originals and prints celebrating the eccentric, uncanny and overlooked follies, temples and towers that dot the British Landscape.

Ed Kluz is a Yorkshire-based artist, illustrator and printmaker. He grew up in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. He studied fine art at Winchester School of Art. His clients include the V&A, Faber & Faber, Folio Society, John Murray publishers, Little Toller Book and St Judes. He is one of the St Jude’s group of artists, representing the very best in British printmaking.