in human beings. And very rarely do I meet people who aren’t sentimental.” (4)
In his exhibition My Back to Nature, he painted a series of woodland landscapes, described as scenes of intense human drama. the moment has just passed, is about to happen or is happening now. Even though we don’t see any signs of people there, they have clearly been there, marks made on the ground, a page left behind, red paint dripping on a tree trunk. Shaw’s woods are like scenes from a movie, with the possibility hinted that maybe you are not alone, the feeling of anticipation that anything could happen.
The tree is humanised, cut down, lying on the ground, one end charred by matches as if tortured. His trees almost have faces.
Trained as a scupltor, Woodfine’s landscapes are imaginary worlds, evocative of familiar childhood memories and fantasies. Her drawings are monochromatic and very precise and carefully considered, lending an almost sinister atmosphere. Everything might appear to be magical and dreamy but there is a slight apprehension evoked by the lack of colour.
Drawings form the main body of work but, extending the miniature worlds she has also created 3D scenes housed in cases and glass domes. She considers drawing a form of scuplture, creating the illusion of three dimensions, worlds that exist on their own.
Even some of her pencil drawings look like miniature scenes, and slightly foreboding in mood, The Crypt, 2010, perhaps because of the subject matter.
Whilst creating realistic worlds, she has also created surreal, dreamlike ones, always depicted in moonlight, reinforcing that other-worldly feel, with a sense of threat.
In conclusion, landscape is a huge and diverse topic, which will take you on many winding pathways but all of them manage to convey a sense of place and time, which is pretty remarkable.
2. Winterson, Jeanetter, June 13, 2013, L.S. Lowry’s Rage Against the Machine, The Guardian, accessed 20th June 2017
3. O’Hagan, Sean, February 13th 2011, Sometimes I Look at My Work and its Conservatism Shocks Me, The Guardian, accessed 20th June 2017
4 and 5. Kellaway, Kate, November 15, 2015 George Shaw, 49, Every Second, Every Ounce of Time has to be Accounted For, The Guardian, accessed 20th June 2017
Farthing, Stephen, 2010, Art: The Whole Story, 2016 edition, London, Thames and Hudson
Gombrich, E.H., 1950, The Story of Art, 2016 edition, London, Phaidon Press
Suchin, Peter, Sarah Woodine CV, Exhibition Press Info, 2015, London, accessed 21st June 2017
Robinson, Fiona, Interview with Strange Worlds artist Sarah Woodfine, 2017, London, accessed 21st June 2017
Victoria and Albert museum website, Newfoundland by Sarah Woodfine, 2005, London, accessed 21st June 2017