Steven Buckler

“I paint landscapes..."

"Or do I paint the things that inhabit the landscape...?"

"Actually, I think my work is about the things missing from the landscape, as much as the landscape itself, because, whilst I am certainly inspired by it, my work is about more than just how it looks; it’s also about the atmosphere, the unseen lives taking place in it, or that took place in it. It’s about the left overs, I suppose. The ethereal sense of being there, and the remnants of those that were there..."

"If that sounds melancholic then I think that’s something I am drawn to. Because it is the thing which doesn’t quite fit, that jars, that will catch my eye. The sharp edges and perfection of the new against the soft crumbling of the old; a half hidden and rusting storage tank behind scrubby wind bent trees; a web of cables and lines crisscrossing the skyline; the red corrugated metal sheets of a neglected shed; the forgotten cottage, its solidity broken by a single tiny window . . ."

"So my work is about that bit of our landscape that is normally edited out, out of our perception and of our experience. It is about the still silence that raise hairs or the saddness of the forgotten thing or the fizzing anticipation of the approaching rain or the earthy humidity left behind that fills the nostrils. . .”

Falmouth based artist Steven grew up in the South West. He trained as an animator and worked in children’s television. With the birth of his first child he split his time between his art and teaching. Currently Steven divides his time between his Fine Art and studying for a Masters in Illustration: Authorial Practice at the Falmouth School of Art. He has illustrated a number of books, the most recent being “Song For The Forgotten” by Cornish author Natasha Carthew and published by National Trust Books. He has had a number of solo exhibitions and also shown work with The Royal Scottish Academy, The South West Academy of Fine Art and the St Ives Society of Artists.