Reviews

"Supranatural nature, highly conceptualised beauty"

Christopher Newberry´s photographs – all taken in the Twyford and Winchester area of Hampshire – show landscapes in the changing light of different seasons and times of day. All of them express an obvious difference from the usual cliché beauty of calendar pictures. They are beautiful, but beautiful in the sense of highly conceptualised beauty.

They fix a moment of viewing in the sense of French philosopher Roland Barthes' dictum from Camera Lucida, Photography lets time stand still and the moment of fixation has already transposed the real object into the past. This means that the images of fields, trees, the churchyard or overgrown paths show a moment of landscape apparently frozen into their technical reproduction.

Nature is shown in a sort of “supranatural” or surreal way: landscapes always with traces of human intervention but without a human being. In this way Newberry's work contains both: a fine, almost melancholic attitude to nature and a self-reflection on the art of photography.

H. Schumacher
Professor of Media Studies
Department of Media
University of Bonn

"Stunning lansdscapes threatened by development"

Mexican-born photographer, Christopher Newberry's work is a collection of some 25 stunning photographs of the countryside around Winchester, all identified by vignettes of the relevant map showing the exact point and direction of each shot. The theme behind the exhibit is the visual and aural dangers of the ever increasing development of the area - more people, houses, roads, cars, planes, trains, etc., all with alarming potential to diminish the beautiful landscapes of the area.

There are dramatic contrasts of colour, amazing clarity of his subject: a beautiful autumnal tree with its carpet of matching leaves; a dingy ghostly photo of a village church reminiscent of Dickensian novels; intense skies in one of which one almost expects to see a judgemental celestial being appear. How many hours were spent waiting for suitable lighting to get these shots? These are scenes that make one realise how rarely we actually "see" the countryside around us - are there skies that shade of blue?

In the audio descriptions accompanying the exhibits we can clearly hear the already high noise pollution from road, rail and air traffic and the artist explains how difficult it is to keep the visual impacts of development out of the frame. The accompanying OS maps show how near to these vistas the local infrastructure is encroaching.
The photographs are all framed by Patrick House workshops in Southampton, part of the Two Saints Housing Association providing accommodation and support for the homeless, who will receive 10% of profits from sales.
The exhibition is being held in Winchester's The Tower Arts Centre, the only one we have. Go quickly; the council have given it away; this may be one of the last exhibitions to be held here.

by John Timms for Remotegoat

http://www.remotegoat.co.uk

"Master of the camera"

When I saw Christopher Newberry's stunning landscape images adjacent to Twyford and Winchester I was thrilled.

Here is an artist who did not stop at the first picturesque vista but returned time and again to locate the perfect moment of light and colour. When there is nothing to improve in an image it is perfect, and perfection is what Mr. Newberry's pictures have attained. His work references Dutch landscape masters, our own Constable and perhaps the Mexican master García Nuñez. Mr. Newberry takes us a step further than the beautiful vista in his show, aptly named, "Vistas in a Crowded Land" as he finds an intriguing way to let the viewer know that beauty is not in every direction, and his gorgeous depictions of grand vistas also speak of that which is vanishing in an overbuilt locale.

Do not miss this overlooked master of the camera and fine colour print at the Tower Arts Centre this month.

By Martin Cox (Photographer)

Los Angeles, California, USA

http://www.martincox.com/

In the News

". . . the exhibition will remind people of the dangers these landscapes face because of development . . . "

See complete article in the Southern Daily Echo

Andrew Napier
Southern Daily Echo