University of Warwick Art Collection Warwick Business School Journeys Through Landscape The Business School was one of the first buildings to be built on agricultural land on the Warwickshire boundary and it is fitting that it contains an exhibition exploring artists’ responses to landscape. The works selected exemplify the many approaches which contemporary artists have used to examine and portray landscape. The works are all concerned with the way we travel through and experience the landscape around us, the way we plan our routes, departure points and destinations, and the things we encounter along the way. The neon work by Langlands and Bell provides a way of considering world travel and we are taken on a journey around the globe as the identification codes of international airports intermittently light up. 1 The piece by Susan Derges was created by the movement of a wave across light sensitive paper submerged in the sea, capturing a single moment, rather than the passage of time as in the works of Long and Fulton. 2 Maps have been used by travellers for thousands of years and there are two works which use the idiom of cartography in this exhibition. Layla Curtis has used sections of mass produced Ordnance Survey maps for her collage with disorientating results. Simon Lewty’s hand drawn map represents a walk taken with reference to historical associations. Many artists use performance as a basis for their artwork, two other works here are the result of actual walks taken through landscape. In the case of Richard Long, a text based record of a walk, providing samples of its various stages, but leaving gaps for the viewer’s imagination to fill. Hamish Fulton accompanies his text with an image of the dramatic destination of his walk. Both Long and Fulton trained as sculptors at St Martins College but later sought to replace the idea of the object with action. The time taken during a stage of, or to complete their respective journeys is a feature of both works. The natural processes that affect and shape the land have been the inspiration for many artists. The abstract painting by Estelle Thompson can be considered as having a different concept of ‘journey’ – a journey our eyes take sweeping across the canvas. We move from one end to the other as we try to make sense of the whole. A more obvious reference to the notion of journeying through landscape is seen in Julian Opie’s screenprint with its cartoon-like take on movement through the contemporary environment. 3 1. Langlands & Bell - Frozen Sky 2. Susan Derges - Shoreline 3. Julian Opie - Cars? The University Collection of over 800 items is on display in the buildings and landscape of the University campus. You can look at images and find out where they are by visiting the Art Collection website http://go.warwick.ac.uk/art . To ensure the works you wish to see are available on the day of your visit, contact the Curator or Curatorial Assistant in advance at the gallery office on 024765 22589 or email E.A.Dooley@warwick.ac.uk University of Warwick Art Collection Mead Gallery 024765 22589 http://go.warwick.ac.uk/art Warwick Business School