Lar Cann | Beneath Cornish Feet

In his book Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism, the academic John Gage commented, “We are increasingly aware that painters are not necessarily privileged spectators of their own works; and when they turn to words they may in fact be rather less able than other categories of writers to articulate their thoughts about the notoriously opaque world of visual sensation.”

Just so, but the stimulus can be identified for what has been an absorbing engagement for the past number of years.

From the theme-title it would be reasonable to assume these images reflect on aspects of Cornwall’s considerable mining and quarrying heritage and, to some extent, this would carry weight. But there is also a more specific reference at work here. The ‘feet’ are those of Dr Jörn Cann, Cornish born and a consultant haematologist who maintained a passion for collecting minerals that began well before embarking on any medical training. It was an abiding passion that had taken him to many places around the globe in pursuit of this enthusiasm, though much of the collecting was indeed within the county.
Inheritance of that collection, in both spirit and substance, is the fundamental basis for these paintings, that and a cross-referencing with quarrying. The influence is one of mineral based colour and rock-face geometry.
The fringes of Bodmin Moor, in particular to the north-west and the south-east, are areas long associated with mineral-ore mining and hard-rock quarrying. These activities have influenced the physical appearance of a landscape already unique in character, with granite tors weathered and eroded by the passage of geological time and the ice ages. It is an ancient landscape, carrying the scars of industry...Read on at penwithgallery.com