Moving Through Landscape
Tony Plant’s childhood footprint is set deep into the cliffs and coves of his native Cornwall. Later, at Chelsea Art school, Plant was fortunate to have outstanding tutors - Roger Ackling, Trevor Sutton and Helen Chadwick who's post modernist art celebrated the transience of life: with her famous ‘Piss Flowers 1991-1992’ she made casts of her own piss drawings in the snow. Chadwick’s snow and Plant’s sand - using nature as their muse and canvas, just as the aboriginal rock artists did 35,000 years ago.
Now, away from modern art education and into the world - we see one man and a rake, a romantic landsman, transferring journeys and movements, across canvas and into the sand with the mindfulness of a Zen monk attending to his gravel garden, or the Medieval farmer hand ploughing a field of perfectly aligned furrows.
Tony Plant dances around the tide, playing a game with nature’s light and nature’s scale, filming the transformation with his drone at different times of night and day - we are reminded that Monet did something close with his series of thirty ‘Haystacks 1890-91.’ The beauty of Plant’s whole beach drawings is that they never overwhelm the landscape, instead they nestle into the margins between rock, sand and sea - ornamental tracery on a monumental scale gifting the viewer an unexpected poetic experience.
CIRCLE is showing Tony Plants delightfully personal assemblages, constructed of lines and pattern, layers of paint, assembled canvas and reclaimed wood. Each piece is a place, a walk he repeats night and day, sometimes for days, mapping the trail in his head. Plant captures the sense of place and sometimes bringing back reclaimed items found on the way. His work is a wonderful celebration of the ever-changing coastal environment and a reminder that impermanence can be treasured.
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Tony PlantSand Sand Sand, 2020Oil and acrylic on carved wood27 x 46 cm£800.00
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Tony Plant, 5 Carn Cottage, 2020
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Tony PlantTides Rising Tides, 2020Oil and acrylic on carved wood27 x 46 cm£800.00
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Tony Plant, A Blue Floats Above The Trees, 2020
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Tony Plant, Tides Rising Tides #2, 2020
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Tony PlantBoat Bird, 2021Found wood and copper, steel, brass nails, boat paint found in St Ives harbour 20 years ago, I then mounted this onto a Hickory set square owned by my father. It has been with me in numerous studios over the years, no it is time to let it fly.33 x 22 x 4 cm£800.00
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Tony PlantWood Walking , 2020Oil and acrylic on carved wood19 x 24 cmSold
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Tony PlantNight Walk Cliff, 2018Oil, acrylic on canvas with assembled found objects (2D wall sculpture)£850.00
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Tony PlantNight Walk Cliff #2, 2021Oil, acrylic on canvas with assembled found objects (2D wall sculpture)£850.00
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Tony PlantNight Walk Cliff #3, 2021Oil, acrylic on canvas with assembled found objects (2D wall sculpture)£850.00