The rolling green hills, still blue waters reflecting the blue sky above filled with fluffy clouds. It’s easy to take the beauty of the English countryside for granted when you grow up in the UK. It has acted as the inspiration for poet Wordsworth as he wandered lonely as a cloud, for the paintings of John Constable, and it continues to be used as a backdrop in films from Harry Potter to Bollywood movies.
It’s also the muse of contemporary painter Sijoy Jose Kurisingal, whether capturing the still waters of Bassenthwaite Lake or the majestic Borrowdale Surprise view overlooking Derwentwater, both in the heart of Cumbria and presented at The Holy Art Gallery in London. There’s peace here, a meditative stillness where a person could spend hours observing the gentle ripples on the water and the swaying of the tree line in the wind. It’s these beautiful views that make us feel connected to nature and allow our imaginations to escape the chaos and hectic nature of the modern world.
We’re drawn to views such as this and it’s an evolutionary instinct that transcends our species as scientists have observed bears spending hours admiring spectacular views, suggesting that there’s a consensus on beauty across different animals. It’s the same instinct that inspires Sijoy to paint these views, as through his works he can transport us from East London where they are being shown, to this world that we are disconnected from when in the heart of a city.
Historically painting was a medium to convey that which couldn’t be observed, in an age before photography and film existed. While we can now take photographs from lookout points it still doesn’t capture the essence of a place the way a painting does. A photograph takes a fraction of a second but Sijoy spends hours observing the views as he paints en plein air as artists have done so for centuries.
His paintings are not a snapshot of what a place looks like at a particular moment but the impression it has left on him over hours – the impression it has left on him, just as he has impacted the landscape by being present in it for hours painting.
His works hang alongside figurative and abstract artworks in the Holy Art Gallery as part of a group exhibition, and while many of the other works are larger in size and brighter in colour, Sijoy’s works hold their own and have the ability to draw you in to admire the texture and detail in his two landscapes.
In today’s age art has expanded beyond representation to become more conceptual and there’s a debate as to whether art has to be more than just representing the world around us, and we have to ask ourselves is beauty enough? However, the Romantic poet John Keats once wrote, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”, and that’s what Sijoy channels through his paintings and who are we to argue with Keats?
Two of Sijoy Jose Kurisingal’s artworks are showing at The Holy Art Gallery in East London until 19th October. More from the artist may be found on his Instagram and website.
All images copyright the artist.
