A London-focused exhibition is showcasing at Broadway Bookshop on Broadway Market, exploring the unexpected beauty of London Fields park.
London Fields Revealed looks at the interaction between urban and rural landscapes, climate change, the environment and development, illustrating underlying issues and context in society while celebrating its value to local people.
The artist Rory Brooke told the Gazette: “I’ve lived in the London Fields area since 2005. Over time, and particularly since we’ve had a dog, and with lockdown, I’ve regularly been in the park and have become increasingly aware of the many fascinating and contrasting views.
“The exhibition explores the unexpected beauty of London Fields park, its value to local people and its relationship to contemporary issues such as climate change, biodiversity and equality.”
He also described one of his paintings, Guarded Tree: “There is a fir tree over between The Pub on the Park and the toilet blocks that from a certain angle is flanked by London plane trees like guards on either side of it.
“Like an alien intrusion to the park being kept in check. My linocut seeks to show the contrast of the dark trees with the light sky and grass while also exploring the gnarled bark of the plane tree in the foreground and contrast for example with the vertical lines of the fencing.”
In another painting of his, Stone Circle, there’s a circle of stones and logs in a less visited part of the park in the coppice of trees near the train station.
It depicts the tree shadow that is cast across the circle with strange animal shapes in the branches in winter mornings.
Rory said: “This picture is the most stylised of my work on show with for example liberties taken with the positioning of Blackstone Estate in the background.
“The colours and composition are influenced by the Bayeux Tapestry but places its story in the context of contemporary life and issues, including Covid, biodiversity and climate change.”
Rory was selected to take part in Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year shown on TV in 2021.
London Fields Revealed will be run from September 30 to November 30.
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