Cornish contemporary artist Kurt Jackson walks in JMW Turner’s footsteps.
JMW Turner made a series of trips to the South West during the early part of the 19th Century in search of ‘the picturesque’; creating works to be reproduced and sold to the public. For this exhibition Kurt Jackson revisited Turner’s locations creating his own work in response to these sites and witnessing the processes of change since Turner’s day.
Turner was known to exhibit great artistic licence. Physical features were moved, skylines raised and lowered for the best composition. Whether a building was ignored, has since been obliterated or hidden by development is of interest to Jackson. Will Jackson discover an immense river depicted by Turner is now banked by concrete, denatured or just a small stream lost under 200 years of tree growth? Harbour walls and cliffs are exaggerated, wreckage spilled on beaches where tourists now spread their towels and sun cream.
This exhibition is not so much a homage to Turner as a dialogue with him; one professional artist with another.
Kurt Jackson: Revisiting Turner’s Tourism
24 March – 21 April. 4 July – 18 August 2018.
Jackson Foundation Gallery, St Just, Cornwall, TR19 7LB.