Introducing Andrew Torr’s stunning nocturnal landscapes

    Lisa Brown·
    Creative NewsCreativityPainting
    ··1 min read
    Lisa Brown

    Painter Andrew Torr’s stunning nocturnal landscapes are the focus of a new co-curated exhibition titled ‘Nocturnes’, presented by Liminal Gallery x The AoP Gallery .

    Torr has developed a signature neo-classicist approach to his work, as seen through the collection of landscape paintings selected for ‘Nocturnes’. Each painting has a thin bright line that runs along the horizon and below the trees. This horizon line contains a hive of city life, car lights, brightly lit houses and is placed within a setting that owes more to the rural abundance of the old masters than an urban location in London’s Zone 2.

    “There are no figures or recognisable buildings in the paintings, but the pictures are packed with activity” – Andrew Torr

    This series of urban landscapes began in 2015, composed from a distant and contemplative perspective across the parks and city. The setting is archetypally modern while the application of the medium and the format itself is reassuringly traditional. Torr takes a delicate approach to the application of oil paint, starkly contrasting the hard lines of the concrete cityscape that informs his subject matter.

    These paintings act as love letters to the city in which the artist has spent his life, seen from a new angle which reimagines the possibilities of the landscapes, inviting the viewer to form their own narratives too.

    ‘The colours in the skies above the commons are made by the city and the way the city lights illuminate the clouds, the smog and the rain and mist give these colours an incredible depth and complexity.’
    ‘Each common has a signature light pattern depending on the density of the traffic or the frequency of the streetlights and paths. These constellations are unique to each common and, like the sky, they set the mood of the painting.’

    ‘Nocturnes’ is open to view from 6 to 28 May with a private view 5-8pm on Saturday 6 May, kindly sponsored by Old Dairy Brewery. It will be the first exhibition to take place at Liminal Gallery’s new permanent home in Margate.
    www.liminal-gallery.com