Eerie Dreamscapes

Christopher Lilly was trained at Falmouth College of Arts, and later at the University of the West of England in Bristol – where he studied Drawing and Applied Arts.

His drawings are concerned with the intangible, fleeting nature of moments, and the defining effects they have on the individual’s psyche. Influenced by the photography of Jeff Wall, Diane Arbus and Sally Mann, this latest exhibition brings together a series of recent pastel drawings in which layers of torn paper have been built up before any colour is applied – the false notion of a ‘blank canvas’ is abandoned, and the reality of a complex, damaged history is evoked.

The subject matter is often ‘borrowed’ from lost or abandoned photo albums that the artist has amassed over the years, or in other cases is simply from imagination. The use of surreal colours gives the pictures a dreamlike, dusky quality, while long shadows, and a wide and high viewpoint, create ominous, thoughtful atmospheres.