JUNE 7 - JULY 13 

Sightlines is an AKA contemporary exhibition featuring recent paintings by Simon Carter. 

When I was introduced to Simon Carter's work, I was struck by his preoccupation with the act of observation. It led me to consider the act of looking - what does it mean to really look? 

Indeed, Simon's work explores the physical act of looking. On Distant (2020), he explains, 'usually the images I use are flat to the picture plane, 'I was interested in using the more obvious sense of recession induced by converging lines. The horizon is a constant, often near the top of the canvas. This time, it is a zone where I parked a succession of colours like clouds.' His concern with perspective is palpable and he possesses an arresting ability to transform skies, creeks, marshes and vegetation into striking shapes and blocks of colour.

Also seeking to explore the connection between the natural world and its observer. Simon's process consists of walks within the landscape, where initial observations are marked in drawings, taken into the studio and transformed into paintings. He remarks, ‘drawing is a way of connecting to the world, it really makes you look.

I think the drawings I make are about that act of looking, and not necessarily about what things look like.’ 1 This idea of connection is essential. Transitioning away from direct representation, Simon’s work seeks to portray the act of observation; which is also to engage and connect with his environment.

A part of engaging with his environment is understanding its movements and condition. The landscape of the Essex coast, where Simon is based, feels akin to Cambridgeshire - both harbouring a sense of impermanence and fluidity. On the Essex coast, Simon remarks, ‘the landscape is soft,’ its ‘fluid’, ‘it's a landscape that dissolves.’ ‘Unlike the landscape in the West Coast of Britain’, ‘the East Coast is constantly in flux.’  2

In bringing Simon’s work to Cambridge, we hope to continue this conversation. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed the evolution of this exhibition. Sightlines is an invitation to look, to engage and to connect with our surroundings.

       -   Eilis O'Loughlin, Exhibitions Coordinator 

1 Simon Carter in the Artist’s Studio. Noah Carter, 2019. Youtube.

2 Simon Carter, Messums St. James’ Exhibition. 2020. Youtube