Unwinding

They come from London and it is perhaps for this reason that the work of both embraces the mountains and landscape. Walks that become images; mountains and landscapes that are immortalised in etchings.

Inevitably, deep in the countryside, immersed in nature, ideas flow more naturally. Ereira-Guyer’s and LlewellynJones’ works reflect this and are a musing on Time. A Time to think, a Time to do and a Time to make. A work that is alive and gives pause, and of the energy granted to them by Nature.

This is analogue art, with all its inherent rituals. Ereira-Guyer has always created unique works in etching and, some years ago, decided to buy his own press: a Polymetaal Roller Press, which allowed him to become more experimental, in work that manipulates time and memory.

Llewellyn-Jones in his work uses two large format cameras, a Deardorff 8×10 and a M.P.P 5X4. This recourse to analogue technology is fundamental ultimately to the outcome of the work of both. Llewellyn-Jones reveals and magnifies using various techniques, chemical experiments, light and timings, resulting in unpredictable, textured images. In Ereira-Guyer, we perceive this same idea of texture created from the landscape. That texture, as matter, idea and abstraction led to this exhibition.

The idea of symbolising the unknown and the unknowable, emerges from the mountains. While walking, Ereira-Guyer contemplates an interweaving of personal and collective stories. When we look at LlewellynJones’ images, we cannot tell if this is Portugal, Wales or Crete, a unique landscape emerging. An unconscious landscape.

It is a work about Time, in contrast to today’s hectic and restless society. A work that lives and breathes the unknown, where the actual process slowed them down, and in which the intended results may not be achieved quickly, as if this were a lab procedure.

In the gallery a dialogue emerges, a juxtaposition between the tactile nature of Ereira-Guyer’s pieces which ebb and flow in the space, prompting us to immerse ourselves in the landscape, and the wooden structure on which Llewellyn-Jones’ photographs are displayed. Arranged in several rows and filling the entire frame, they play tricks on the viewer, whose gaze goes beyond the beauty of the landscape. On the table is an atlas of photographs that are part of the whole process, the daily recollection of stories and images that articulate different narratives.

Ultimately it is an exhibition about Time, giving pause, reflection, memory and contemplation.

Elsa Garcia

Theodore Ereira-Guyer and Sam Llewellyn-Jones: Unwinding, at Galeria Sá da Costa, Lisbon, Portugal.