Alex Gough Erämaa Exhibition

Alex Gough is a talented Finnish/British painter whose work has previously brought me to tears.

I first came across Alex through a good friend who's been following his progress for some time. A couple of years ago, she took me to his exhibition at Orion Contemporary Gallery in St James's in London. One look at Alex's paintings depicting the blue hour (the time between dusk and complete darkness) in Finnish Lapland, and I felt a lump in my throat. I'd just returned from a skiing trip to Ylläs at the time, and the landscape had made me so homesick that looking at the excellent way Alex had captured the essence of the place and time made my eyes well up. (Even now gazing at the image of Polku, which means 'Path' in English, I have to fight back the tears)

Polku.
OIl Acrylic and Indian Ink on Canvas. 35x65cm. 2009
Alex Gough

Last night's private preview showed how Alex has developed as an artist (and here I must admit to being in no way an expert at art - I'll have to refer you to History-of-Art-student Daughter for that). Instead of painting the actual landscape, Alex has taken a completely abstract route and shows us instead the feel of nature. He wants his work to reflect back to us, so that we experience optical illusions and a deeper sense of landscape.

His methods are varied, he makes his own acrylic colours, and then pours them, mixes them, dabs them and 'lets the chemicals react with the canvas'. In his largest piece, a painting which filled most of one wall at the exhibition, turquoise and deep black is combined with white and all shades in between.

No.17.  180x245cm

Cobalt Turquoise, Spinel Black pigment, acrylic binder, gesso, gouache canvas.

2012

Alex Gough

But my eyes were drawn to a smaller piece which to me, under the excellent lighting of the gallery, looked salmon pink, but which Alex said was actually orange. Here, and in all the other smaller pieces, the canvas was covered with a fine nylon netting, allowing the colours to shift and shine. At the left hand corner, the artists had placed a matt spot of turquoise, which draws the eye and in a pleasurable way distracts and disturbs the movement of the painting. He'd also painted on top of the netting, giving the work even more depth.

No.15. 78x110cm
Irgazine Orange, Cobalt Turquoise pigment,
acrylic binder, gesso, gouache canvas and polyester. Alex Gough 2012

I must also say how wonderful it was to hear Alex speak Finnish. He was born in the UK but has the fluency of a native speaker. Some feat with a difficult language like ours!

Me with the Artist last night.

Do go and see Alex Gough's excellent exhibition, if you are anywhere near London before the 11 November 2012.

Erämaa
Wilderness
****Extended to 21 November*** 
10 Georgian House
10 Bury Street
St James's
London SW1Y 2AA
By appoinment only
www.orioncontemporary.com
02071938373  

My Nordic Adventure - Part Two: Snow and more snow

I have a strange need for snow. When I try to explain, I usually say how snow can light up the darkest of wintry days, how a blanket of newly fallen snow is like a rebirth of a landscape: everything looks new, clean and fresh. Of course snow also reminds me of my childhood.

Growing up in Tampere, central Finland, I couldn't wait to lie down on newly fallen snow and make angel shapes with my outstretched arms and legs. When I got my first pair of skis for my 4th birthday I decided to try them out on a field where just a few patches of slush remained on a sunny spring morning in late April. I think I would have ruined them, had  my father not stepped in to save the birthday present. As a school child, I'd cross country ski every weekend in the winter with my friends to a coffee hut near our home. We'd spend our pocket money on a cinnamon bun and a mug of hot berry cordial and ski back home. Cross country skiing was the one sport I was ever any good at - for once my long limbs were of some use.

So it's no wonder I was quite emotional when I was saw these beautiful wintry scenes on my first morning in Äkäslompolo in the Finnish Lapland.

As you can see the weather was gorgeous. Sunny and barely below freezing (-4 C). I was staying with my Finnish friends who are as mad about skiing as I am. As soon as we'd had breakfast of rye bread with ham and cheese and coffee (naturally!), we decided to start the holiday week with a cross country hike on a nearby track. The first leg of about 7 km took us to one of the many huts that the system of ski tracks has scattered around the area of Ylläs.

I was kitted out from my friend's more than adequate ski store. She even had a suitable ski suit and boots to match for me to borrow. I looked the part but once on the track felt anything but a pro.

When used to the old feeling of the narrow skis, I could appreciate that the kit she'd lent me was of outstanding quality. It didn't, however, make up for my lack of fitness. It'd been over two years since I'd cross country ski'd.

This is me two years earlier - spot the narrowness of the skis.

I struggled with the efforts of the uphill 'giliding' (instead I crawled up the snowy banks) and once fell over on a downhill track. Taking on a descent on the narrow planks could not be more different from slalom where all the control is in your legs and skis. Here you just have to keep to the prepared downhill cross country track, bend your knees, keep your balance (!) and hope for the best.

Drenched in sweat and panting, I made it to the first hut and was able to pretend I'd have no problem with the return trip. To my surprise this turned out to be right - fortified by the coffee and laskiaspulla (a cream filled bun served around Ascension Day in Finland and Sweden) I got into a stride and even got up some speed. Still, I was glad when I spotted our turning and could look forward to a hot sauna and a well deserved glass of white mulled wine.

Later in the evening over a delicious supper of 'reindeer temptation' (stewed reindeer steak, onion, carrots and potatoes cooked with cream in the oven), our hostess said, "That was good. Shall we try a longer tour of 20 km tomorrow?"