Lyrical landscapes inspired by poetry of TS Eliot, Samuel T Coleridge and the Persian poet Nizami

Dominic Madden’s exhibition of paintings and collages – Footfalls Echo – at Stanford Dingley features forests and streams, many based on stretches of the River Pang that runs close to the gallery. Its title draws on TS Eliot’s poem Four Quartets and text appears in some of the works with reference to the poetry of Samuel T Coleridge and the Persian poet Nizami.

OPENING at the Fergus Madden gallery in Stanford Dingley on Saturday is Footfalls Echo – Exhibition of Paintings and Collages by Dominic Madden.

The exhibition title references TS Eliot’s poem Four Quartets: Footfalls echo in the memory

Down the passage which we did not take

Towards the door we never opened

Into the Rose Garden.

It features paintings and collages of forests and streams, many of which are based on stretches of the river Pang that runs close to the venue.

The show will be open for public viewing over this weekend and next Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4.30pm. It will also open on weekdays by appointment only.

This exhibition brings together paintings that depict woodland streams in West Berkshire and Devon.

Dominic, a graduate of St Martin’s School of Art, has travelled extensively to the Middle and Far East and has developed an intense interest in topography and the impact the inner world has on it.

Ink applied to Xuan paper records the varying topography and quality of light in each location, but also reflects the memory of the artist’s travels.

Dominic’s influences range from traditional Shan Shui – mountain water – and Persian miniature painting, to 20th-century artists like Graham Sutherland and Paul Nash.

A number of figures appear by the river bank, alluding to the notion of solitude and also of a journey.

Text appears in some of the works with reference to the poetry of Samuel T Coleridge and the Persian poet Nizami.

“As Persian paintings can evoke an otherworldly paradise, so these paintings seek to evoke a sense of longing, hinting at a lost place or experience,” says Dominic.

Vegetal forms reminiscent of animated beings or domestic objects allude to memories of desire, dreams and nightmares. This can be linked also to ‘pareidolia’, the tendency to see meaningful images in random or ambiguous visual patterns.

Like Nash’s Genius Loci, these paintings suggest a spiritual presence within nature, invisible but palpable, that may be the projection of our own inner world.

The exhibition is at Willow House, Stanford Dingley (opposite the Old Boot Inn).

For enquiries and directions please ring Fergus Madden on (0118) 974 4654.