LOST HORIZON

Claudia Arnold Ziegeler

 

With Alan Rankle, Maerz Contemporary presents a master of contemporary British landscape painting. Landscape with a twist, one might add : whilst Rankle's work is as visually spectacular and basically formal as landscape art of the 18th century, it is infused with layers of modern art history. In his at first glance pastoral tableaux, nature has disquieting moments.

 

 

The painter was born in 1952 in Oldham, Lancashire and educated at Rochdale College and Goldsmiths' School of Art in London where he received his BA with honors in 1973. Widely shown over four decades thoughout the UK, Europe and the US, and in the summer of 2015 at the opening of Sacca Sessola during the Venice Biennale alongside Turner and Warhol, Alan Rankle's work will be introduced to Berlin by Maerz Contemporary in the upcoming show. His work can be found from conservative surroundings such as London's Lloyds Club to glamorous La Villa Rose in Venice, in private and corporate collections such as Baker McKenzie, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Exxon.

 

 

 

Clues to this artist's 21st century intense environmental malaise, abstractly expressed amidst his formal mastery, can be found in previous show titles - On the Edge of Arcadia"; On the Edge of Wrong"; Landscapes for the Turning Earth"; Formal Concerns"; Wilderness Approaching" - to name a few. Art critic Sarah Lloyd summarizes Rankle's intensity for NY's Artslant in her article on the show Running from the House". Rankle takes issue with art that is visually spectacular but empty of meaning. He is at odds with some contemporary art's practice of existential and representational shallowness", with use of surface narratives that veil rather than reveal". Alan Rankle says he wants to locate the tone-feeling of meaning within the landscape, not describe only the constructed surface". Whilst the viewer's logic may be challenged to find meaning in chaos in Rankle's both real and fantastic scenes, the inherent aesthetics invite further contemplation. The artist wants your emotional engagement, to find the invisible in the visible.