Oxmarket Contemporary are delighted to welcome Sussex born Artist and Architect Neil Holland to the Gallery. Neil has spent 40 years painting the Sussex landscape, but more than that - he has helped to build it. For many years he resided in Arundel running an architectural practice which specialised in contextual architecture i.e. new buildings of all kinds relating to their context historically and in terms of landscape. It gained 60 Architectural awards. During this period Neil never ceased to paint the landscape he built in.

Many of Neil’s buildings can be seen prominently in the landscapes he has painted in the Arun Valley, Chichester Harbour and in and around Chichester. Neil has been motivated to capture a ‘spirit of place’, so that his watercolours, rich in colour, pattern and distorted perspectives produce an image with the quality of memory, to translate the landscape into a place where our experience is not merely visual, but emotional.

The recognition of the importance of the impact of nature to us in a deep and meaningful way encourages us to consider the greater impact it has in shaping our shared identity, and whether such a link can endure in an urbanised world.

The act of painting is one of fondness for others to say “here is my Sussex, this is what I see and feel”