Threshold | Richard Hoare
2 June to 15 October 2023
This exhibition featured the landscape paintings and drawings of the remote and most westernmost fringe of Europe - the hills of Achill in Mayo and the north-west coast of Scotland.
Savage and sublime, these coastlines have been returned to again and again by Hoare who has captured their many personalities. And as he has embedded himself more and more in this remote terrain, he has increasingly connected with the ancient cultures - resonating with their impulse to place megaliths and cairns and the siting of these structures. But he does not attempt to document these sites in a literal way; more denote the powerful presence of place they harbour.
Richard Hoare - "The cairns and megalithic tombs of the west coast of Scotland are clearly orientated with the same ancient understanding as those on Achill in Ireland, towards the setting sun and also the rising moon and certain constellations - like some giant observatory or clock,' he says. 'I now understand that these stones are markers that configure together to form a 'mechanism' in the landscape. Together with the earth they stand on, they form a sacred landscape that is a wider place of gathering to witness various celestial events."
Following a successful exhibition at Messums Wiltshire, Richard Hoare has returned the coastal path to continue his journey, a kind of universal pilgrimage. Many of the works in this exhibition feature the landscape of the remote and westernmost fringe of Europe - the hills of Achill in Mayo and the north-west coast of Scotland - and new works from the Isle of Skye and the Craignish peninsula. These latest pictures by Hoare have revealed to him how the journey has altered and developed his perception of the landscape and afforded a fuller insight that often comes from revisiting a place of inspiration.
Image caption: 296/22 Dawn over Garbh Shròn by Richard Hoare. Oil on linen, 92.5 x 110.5cm. Photo: Martin Urmson What is a Solar Date Mark? (PDF, 136 KB)(opens new window)