Penzance Promenade (No B/30)
silver gelatine print
Penzance Promenade (No B/32)
silver gelatine print
Nik Strangelove took as his starting point the 1889 painting of Penzance Promenade,The Rain It Raineth Every Day by Norman Garstin. The contemporary composition, along with the fact that the promenade itself has changed little, gives the painting a timeless quality.
It was whilst out walking along the promenade in the rain that Strangelove began to notice the textures and shapes that lay under his feet. The aged granite, cut concrete slabs and tarmac added over time that form the fabric of the promenade created abstract compositions.
He chose to focus on these layers in graphic close-up transforming it into something ambiguous. In doing so he aims to reveal the marvellous in the mundane. Strangelove wants the viewer to see what lies underneath the film of familiarity.
Strangelove is showing 3 more photographs at Penlee House Gallery and Museum near to the Newlyn School painting which inspired him.
The Rain It Raineth Every Day by Norman
Garstin currently on show at Penlee House
Collection of Penlee House Gallery and Museum