New Forest, 2004, solo exhibition of photographic and moving image work and inclusion in one group exhibition, Palazzo Zenobio, Venice, 2005

As part of the ArtSway residency programme Richard Billingham made two new video pieces and a number of large colour photographs, all made within the New Forest landscape. The show explored the artist's longstanding interest in beauty and nature and confirmed his extraordinary ability to capture an intense feeling for his surroundings. Through the individual photographic and video pieces, each different in size and scale, Billingham alighted upon patterns and structures within the Forest with an acute sense of the landscapes spatial and temporal qualities... whether it be in capturing the movement of a woodland canopy during a storm, the surreal boundary between a golf course and open heathland or the beauty of an undulating sweep of headland at dusk. The individual works were exhibited as an installation which brought the unique patchwork of the New Forest landscape 'outside' the gallery 'inside' exploring the relationship between outside space and internal space, the viewer and the artist. Billingham looked to the structure of paintings that move the viewer by their composition and his work in this show was to a considerable extent informed by a deep appreciation of landscape painting. The exhibited works owe less to antecedents in the photographic world than to the human engagement with nature found in the paintings of Cuyp or Ruysdael, Claude or Poussin, Turner or Constable. Reception for the artist was Saturday 14 February 2004 2 - 4pm There was a Gallery Talk by the artist in the exhibition Saturday 14 February 2004 At 3.30pm ArtSway was a contemporary visual arts venue in the New Forest facilitating the development of new work by artists and offering creative opportunities for audiences. Richard Billingham's Pro[ duction ] residency at ArtSway was funded by the Regional Arts Lottery Programme through Arts Council England with additional support Artsway Station Road, Sway, Hampshire, SO41 6BA Tel: 01590 682260 Fax: 01590 68198