Two Bridges Print

The River Lea, or Lee, was once London's main water supply and its valley the home of extensive agriculture, most of it under glass. It was an important freight route with the Lea Navigation canal and offered a easy route for narrowboats and later the railways, then roads. Its length is broken up and criss-crossed with bridges, viaducts, locks and weirs but forms now the Lea Valley Park. Its banks are lined with all sorts of craft, many of them homes. Despite it picturesque quality it is a post-industrial landscape, much of it from the Victorian period with hefty ironworks, railings, columns and rusting iron panels. These are the inspiration behind these pieces. This work takes a high view point giving a vertiginous perspective, the farthest bridge being higher than the nearer. The colours are surreal, brilliant but impure, glowing but corrupted. Sharp cut edges are interrupted by a careless nature, boundless sky and water are sliced and chopped into squares. A further bridge is suggested by shadow.