THE ETERNAL GEOMETRIES
Ovenden Sculpture - (Picture 1991)
The Perspective of Time (The Tower of Babel) 1987, polychromatic granites, base 80x84cm, height 54cm
Ruralism is a conscious effort to regain at least a modicum of grace. We may call its emotional response Romantic, visionary, colour expressionism, but underlying all is that first formative awareness.
It may well be that the Ruralists' self-conscious efforts to pare away our base metropolitan values, seeking, if you will, rock and earth as opposed to concrete, are a source of strength. Ruralism, whatever its Romantic connotations, is not the soft underbelly of contemporary art. The opposite in fact is the case. Light plays on form, creating shadow and mystery. Ruralism is no less sensible to this disquieting interplay than it is to the prismatic ecstasy of the natural world. Graham Ovenden