Sholto Blissett paintings revealing the deep connection between human structures and the natural world
Sholto Blissett‘s paintings manifest as intricately detailed, imaginary landscapes that interweave natural and architectural elements, inviting contemplation on humanity’s evolving relationship with the environment. Having grown up amidst the ancient monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury, his artistic practice is deeply influenced by the cultural narratives societies construct to interpret their place within the natural world.
Employing a combination of soft acrylic washes and precise oil applications, his works explore the aesthetics of nature, questioning how historical perspectives continue to inform contemporary understandings of landscape, wilderness, and the sublime.
His second solo exhibition at Hannah Barry Gallery, Life in Deep Time, marks a departure in both form and atmosphere from his previous works. Presenting eleven new paintings, the exhibition embraces a nocturnal and subterranean visual language, pushing Blissett’s exploration of natural aesthetics into a more mystical realm.
Evoking imagery drawn from prehistoric times to the distant future, his compositions depict grand mountainous expanses, vast underground caverns, and dramatic interactions of fire, ice, and celestial light. Through these surreal depictions, Sholto Blissett extends his inquiry into the tensions between human fantasy, ecological thought, and the architectural structures that have historically symbolized civilization.
Unlike his earlier works, which centered around human-built forms—whether harmonious or precariously positioned on the edge of destruction—his new pieces challenge the dominance of classical architecture. The stately facades of municipal buildings, fortified palazzos, and smooth travertine walls, once markers of Western power, now dissolve into an enigmatic blend of geological formations and man-made structures.
In this transition, stone-carved rotundas merge into cavernous fissures, and ancient colonnades appear as mirages amid dense, untamed forests. Through these transformations, Sholto Blissett underscores the shifting and ambiguous boundaries between human and natural constructions, revealing their deep and often spectral interconnection.
His paintings, characterized by a rigorous command of perspective and layered oil detailing, assert a powerful, centralized viewpoint. This compositional approach, uncommon in traditional landscape painting, evokes both the impulse to impose order and the deeply romanticized notion of an individual subject at the center of experience.
Historically, such techniques have been employed to depict divine authority in nature, as seen in Dutch Golden Age landscapes or the sublime visions of Caspar David Friedrich. Sholto Blissett engages with this tradition while simultaneously subverting it, using his dreamlike scenes to challenge the supposed division between nature and culture.
All images courtesy of artist and Hannah Barry Gallery, shared with permission
