Flight, whether natural or mechanical, can inspire awe. We can relish the spectacle of flight, but sometimes, there’s an edge – a sense of menace, particularly in collective airborne movement. This exhibition brings together works dealing with flight from three artists with the power to provoke this combination of awe and anxiety.
Christopher Stewart captures both the chilling choreography of airborne military exercises, and the twilight animation of thousands of bats, imbuing both with a sense of foreboding as well as wonder.
Monster Chetwynd’s Bat Opera paintings allow us a different interaction with this flying species that can be a focus or irrational fears. Swirling formations, eerie landscapes and sudden close-up encounters combine beauty and potential menace.
Norman Adams’ seabirds have an elemental aspect, their flight an embodiment of the natural forces at play in a landscape that render humans small and insignificant.
Together, these works will immerse viewers in a visual and audio exploration of how we respond to swirling, swarming flight.
Join us in the Peter Scott Gallery from 5.30pm on Thursday 31 October for our mid-season celebration and the opening of this exhibition. Why not make an evening of it and book your tickets for FitkinWall: Harpland in the Great Hall afterwards at 7.30pm?
Image Credit: Christopher Stewart
