Artist Statement:

Catalogue Text 2004:

In a world where scientists have become ever more creative it is fitting that as an artist Rupert Gatfield should approach each painting with the minute preparation and discipline of an old-school botanist. His love of the natural world and his extensive knowledge of plants provide the raw material for all his paintings. He creates detailed and exquisite working drawings, their complex structures adapted from a wide variety of sources. Hours spent in the Natural History Museum studying plant systems, micro-organisms and fractals, a recent trip to Mexico and a thorough knowledge of the flora and fauna of his South London garden provide much of the inspiration behind his work.

In an earlier age Gatfield might have been an expeditionary naturalist
producing loving illustrations of exotic plants. Now the classification of the natural world seems nearly complete, Gatfield has chosen to use his knowledge to dream up a new and, at times, chaotic environment of hybrid organisms floating and rootless, buffeted by winds in a world almost entirely of his own invention.

The danger of meddling with the balance of nature is in evidence across many of his paintings - but so too is the artist's inescapable delight in the fascinating strangeness that he is able to conjure up. The process of allowing his imagination to shape the natural world, the humour and beauty of creating organisms from scratch, colours even the most benign of subjects (like the wonderful series of garden blackbirds). For someone who is so passionate about the environment, he can take some comfort that the genetic mutations dreamt up in an artist's mind will be safely confined to the canvas.

Though entirely self-taught, Rupert Gatfield has developed a dazzling technical expertise. Exhibitions of his paintings and drawings have been held in London, Bath, New York and Boston over the last eighteen years. He has been awarded the First prize at both the Manchester Academy of Arts and the Salon d'Hiver in Bordeaux. This is his second exhibition with the gallery.

John Martin

Shadow Gardens - Rupert Gatfield
John Martin Chelsea