The Nightview is one of a series of paintings depicting the view from my room, where I lived from 1987 to 2004. It depicts that short period of twilight when looking out of the window I can see the landscape about to be enveloped by darkness, overlaid by the fragmented and insubstantial double-reflections of my self and the interior of my room on the double-glazed window. This work represents the convergence of a number of interests; the nocturnal landscape, the studio interior and the self-portrait in one image.
The size of Nightview painting is the same as the image on the glass of the window, thus creating a relationship between the viewer and the illusionistic space of the painting. The figure in Nightview can be seen as part of the landscape, looking in towards the viewer or, separated from the landscape by the window and looking out; therefore the figure can be seen as looking both inwards and outwards simultaneously. This, for me, is a metaphor for the creative process. This painting references, both directly and indirectly, Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Mists.
Ashley Hold, MA, RWA. 