Deep Impact

Keith Tyson's Deep Impact was definitely the highlight of The Summer Exhibition 2011 and for me made it  a completely worthwhile visit ( whilst sifting through all that TWEE!!) . The painting is outstanding and incredibly beautiful. It is full of energy and feeling, fire and colour and did what art should - moved me. The Summer Exhibition is always frustrating because of its sheer nature and although this painting deserved far more space and perhaps a different setting its reflective nature sucked in the energy of everything. Its mirror like surface made its hanging come alive as the audience moved about within its surface and the colours of the other (crammed) paintings in the room.

This apocalyptic and fiery work seems incredibly relevant in my mind today as the riots continue to spread through london. The fear of the end and danger is everywhere bubbling under the surface. I can't help but think what this all means. What is the end?

Oceans

I think water is incredible. Its power overwhelms me. Its diversity. It fills me with a feeling of awe and wonder. It makes me feel peaceful. It seems so wise. My favourite times are summer times by a sea or lake... look out across the water.. here it, feel it.. sense it. It has a voice a personality. Water has seen so much and it all has been part of one big moving body: oceans, rivers, rain clouds, inside trees..inside us. It is life. Water is alive. It is a mystery that has fascinated me for years. As a child I had a stron dgesire to find out the secret of water. Realistically now I know I am no great scientist and probably never will be but in a way now i don't want to know its inner truth. I see it as a conscious being, delving into it's mind may be way too dangerous. How can we as mere humans expect to understand something so great and so all powerfull. Something with the ability to shape and create anything... or destroy everthing. What makes water angry or suddenly turn? What makes water make us feel? What makes water starve or nourish... It has to be a mind! Not like ours, but a great mind. The soul of water; the basis to the universe.



WATER
by Keith Tyson
"Nature's better at painting than I am"