AN ARTIST will talk about the paintings he is showing at Sladers Yard based on the experience of travelling by boat along a stretch of the river Ganges.

Luke Elwes will give an informal talk about the paintings at the West Bay gallery on Saturday, November 3 at 12pm.

He has been working on a series of Ganga paintings since the beginning of the year.

The paintings draw on this powerful, sacred river as it flows through the precarious lives of the millions who live on and near it. Luke’s method of working gives rise, he says, to a mood of reverie.

Bearing in mind the diversity of people and cultures that have thrived throughout history on its banks, as well as climate change, water shortages or

floods, the power of the river to give and to take, he makes his gentle marks with rich colours and areas of emptiness. These he dissolves and floats, sometimes with river water or oil paint thinners which he allows to trickle or flow across his paper or canvas. The results seem to reflect light, inviting us to look into them quietly as if they were the surface of the mighty river.

Luke Elwes studied history at Bristol University and painting at Camberwell Art School, followed by an MA in Art History at Birkbeck College, London University. He travels extensively, discovering and revisiting remote locations in India, Asia Minor and North Africa.

In 1998 he was artist in residence on an expedition to Mount Kailash, a holy mountain in western Tibet.

Since 2000 he has worked for long periods on an island off the East Coast of the UK.

In 2011 Luke gave an ‘Artist’s Eye’ talk at the National Gallery. He also writes about contemporary art for journals including Modern Painters, Royal Academy Magazine, Galleries Magazine and Abstract Critical.com.

In 2013 he was awarded a grant to study t the Vermont Studio Center and in 2015 he was resident artist at the Albers Foundation (USA).

His work is in collections in the UK, USA and Europe. He exhibits regularly in London and internationally.

He is showing now at Sladers Yard as part of Currents: ways of seeing water with paintings by Julian Bailey, Janette Kerr and Vanessa Gardiner.

*Luke Elwes’ Talk, 12pm, Saturday November 3, Sladers Yard Gallery, West Bay. Entrance is free but numbers are limited so please let the gallery know if you are coming by emailing gallery@sladersyard.co.uk.