Colour..,landscape..,imagination.., perfectly describes the work of painter Ashley Hanson, a former prizewinner in the Hunting Art Prizes.  His work is inspired by both Cornwall where he lives and his journeys around the United States, after being awarded a Boise Travel Scholarship from the Slade School of Art.  His vibrant, intensely worked oil paintings are intriguing amalgams of imagery and the unique shapes of each place. He is particularly drawn to coastal towns with their mix of the natural and the man-made.

‘In my paintings I try and define the essence of a place, I often work in series, the paintings feeding each other, allowing all possibilities to be explored. There is a magic moment in each painting when the paint gains an identity and I have a language I can believe in.  My philosophy is ‘mistrust what you know’, my ambition is to find something new in each painting and make a piece with both vitality and integrity.’

Ashley has exhibited widely in the UK and his solo exhibitions include ‘Americascapes’ in 2003 and ‘The Englands’ in April 2008, where he interlinked the coastal landscape of Cornwall and New England. He has work in private collections in the UK, Europe and USA.