I love these paintings because they need absolutely no explanation; they simply go straight for the senses. They are the work of artist Russell Gain who paints in Stratford upon Avon. They don't need bits of paper under them in the art gallery to help you understand them. In fact, the artist himself says that he would simply like people to look at them but as an active process.
The artist wants you to get from them sumptuous colour (easily, I'd say!), profound emotion and a sense of stillness. He wants them to be something that you can look at repeatedly but in which you can still find new things. An earlier blog of mine about Andrew Squire's mysterious paintings noted a similar quality in that artist's paintings also, a quality of something unexplained going on but not expressly depicted.
Russell Gain's work is on permanent display at the Courtyard Gallery near Stratford upon Avon. Russell Gain can also be contacted via his website.
1 Red Shift, from the Mantra series
2 What's Above and What's Below? 3 Lough
Both from the Abstract Landscapes series.
All by Russell Gain reproduced with his kind permission.
