Sea change

Neil Canning's dynamic paintings – full of high winds and wild seas – are the perfect match for the sweeping walls of the Place to Eat in the new John Lewis Cardiff.

His vivid abstracts flow through the expansive space of the department store's soaring 'prow' in a stream of colours and shapes.

'I was very excited when I saw the plans for Cardiff and realised that I was being offered the opportunity to fill such an impressive space,' says Neil.

Gareth Thomas, Retail Director, John Lewis, knew he needed to identify an artist who could do justice to the new department store. 'Neil has done that incredibly effectively,' he says.

'He draws inspiration from nature and the elements and, although his work is essentially abstract, it's not hard to see and feel the link with the natural world around us.

'Partners can be proud to show the resultant work, which I am sure our customers will enjoy and love being around.'

Neil was given a totally open brief and although he saw samples of colours and the finishes that were going to be used, he wasn't tied to incorporating, or contrasting, them.

And on his first site visit he found exactly what he had expected. 'I wanted my work to fit in with the design but also to find a way to showcase the paintings.

'I was very aware of where the work would be and how this is such an opportunity for a wide range of people to see it. There is something about original art, the way paint sits, that can have a big impact on people.

Moving pictures

'Putting art in public places is a way of making people more aware of contemporary painting,' Neil continues. 'Art in department stores can catch people who don't normally go to galleries.

'At first I thought huge canvases would work best but I changed my mind. The Place to Eat is actually a long, thin space that curves round a corner. I wanted to create a series of paintings that would work individually as well as together as one piece of work.

'My aim was to produce a feeling of colour and form moving and developing from one end to the other as the eye gradually travels along the wall.'

The series of 11 works starts with two soft and muted watercolours on paper, and moves into larger oil paintings that become ever more explosive as they travel forward into the space.

Forms and colours tumble from one painting to the next, shapes change subtly and a minor colour in one painting dominates in another.

A small yellow spot guides the eye through the series which both works as individual paintings and as a whole.

'My intention is that there will be a lot to see close up in an individual piece but the whole scope of the work will be clear from a distance – it had to have one voice.

Local lad

'I hope people will feel an emotion about the pieces – perhaps they will remind them of standing on a cliff looking at the sea or the memory of a particular sunset.'

Neil lived for several years in Wales and, although he now lives in Cornwall, he still feels he has a strong Welsh connection.

'My time in Wales was vital to the development of my work. The area was new to me and I had no other artistic influences close by. Up to that point my landscapes had been traditional, often almost photographic. Moving to Wales gave me a new way of working.

'I wasn't bothered about capturing gorgeous Wales but wanted to show the emotional effect of elemental forces that were so much a part of the area.'

He believes that everybody has a 'subconscious calligraphy' to tap into that can help them express what they are feeling. 'Living in Wales helped me to interpret the element of nature in a landscape in a different way.'

No horizons

Moving to Cornwall was also an artistic journey for Neil, with his work becoming even more abstract. 'I wanted to find a way of losing the horizon in my paintings.

'I often see people turning their head when looking at a painting to find the horizon. I want them to find it in their head.'

He is always looking for ways to move his work forward and for new subject matter, and turns most often for inspiration to the countryside around him.

'I walk in all weathers and find watching the sea and the sky from the clifftop consistently inspiring.

'I may not know when I’m experiencing something that this is the 'moment' but it filters down to my subconscious and is then edited and condensed.

'I'm striving to use colours and images to recreate that intense emotion. Every painting needs to have been a fight for it to work – that's what gives it energy and excitement.