ALAN RANKLE - NOT DARK YET
A series of twenty two archival prints each uniquely hand finished in contê and
watercolour on Hannemule German Etching paper in editions of 25 + 2 artists
proofs, image size 47x31cm available exclusively through P78 Editions.
It is not dark yet. The sun sinks. Low. Light dissolves through the atmosphere. Shadows
are falling. It will be dark. Soon. But not yet.
Through this series of prints, originally commissioned for Le Meridian Grand Hotel in
Nuremberg as a pivotal aspect of it’s acclaimed restoration project, Alan Rankle sees light
and meaning within the darkness while reflecting the highly polished, streamlined deco
interiors of the building’s renowned architecture where man-made modernity convenes
with precious metals, and machine bevelled shapes wrap themselves around natural
curvatures. Rankle’s pastoral scenes celebrate the hotel’s original place in rural history. The
building itself began life as a farmhouse with a hop store and was developed in 1895 as a
hotel with 80 rooms.
In the Middle Ages Nuremberg was a crucible of dissent during the Protestant Reformation,
and its many printing presses rolled out messages of discontent, prompting Martin Luther to
call the city the eyes and ears of Germany.
During WWII the Grand Hotel became the HQ of the infamous SS and also the venue of their
trials. It is a building with clearly significant historical connections and the dark, sonorous
contemporary interior, featuring the Not Dark Yet prints and other works by Rankle on every
floor, doesn’t seek to alleviate the austere aspect of the architecture.
Rankle’s contemporary message is clear as we look through his portals of understanding and
engage with his premonitions. His concerns are not quite as rebellious as those of the past,
they are, it could be argued, more like clarion calls of dark foreboding. Today’s omens;
devastating weather events, political fragmentation, nuclear brinkmanship, great
movements of peoples are perhaps not so far removed from the catastrophic fears of
1498; comets, eclipses, floods and plagues to which the great artist Albrecht Dürer alluded in
his fantastical and pioneering wood cut Apocalypse series, not least in The four horsemen of
the Apocalypse.
Dürer is one of Nuremberg’s most revered sons and it was natural for Rankle to investigate
some of his powerful themes of doom and dread and revisit them in the light of today’s
prevailing mood. We might not be as superstitious as folk when the 15 th century folded into
the 16 th , but our fears for planet earth and the destiny of humankind are just as real.
“The landscape element in the theme is paramount,” states Rankle, “and it lies within the
tradition of using nature as a metaphor for reflection. A lot of my literary heroes from Li Po
to Henry David Thoreau, along with Bob Dylan and his great inspiration John Keats, have
written on the subject of contemplation and the symbolism of woodlands and water at the
turning point of the day.”
The prints in this series are based on details from Rankle’s archive of landscape paintings
and they are remixed in new proportions chosen in consultation with the hotel architects,
firstly as near monochrome images in charcoal and silver, and then with an added fillip of
lemon and ochre to recall the patinations of brass.
The colours suggest the hues of the silver and copper mined in the nearby Ore Mountains in
the Bohemian Massif that provide the raw materials for the manufacture of luxury goods,
and helped make Nuremberg a centre for craft and industry. They are also the colours of
autumn and the coming winter.
This collection of imagery sees Rankle taking inspiration from Bob Dylan. “It’s not dark yet,
but it’s getting there” is a Dylan lyric. The day of reckoning is nigh and a fierce sense of
endings weaves its sad way through this song. What does Dylan mean - the end of the day,
the end of an affair, or simply the end? Or all of the above? Dylan, in darkest of moods, has
humanity going down the drain, drowning in a whirlpool of lies, but not yet. There is hope.
Night will fall and there is light in the darkness. Rivers will flow into the sea. The light of
dawn will break through the darkness. But not yet.