Beneath a Golden Horizon: A Drift into the LandEscapes Collection

Art Stories

26 Aug

Beneath a Golden Horizon is my latest addition to the LandEscapes Collection. The work, and the fluid, dream-like animation that accompanies it, delves deeper into the central themes that have driven this series from its inception: the porous boundary between perception and imagination, and the creative power of ambiguity.

The LandEscapes Collection began almost by accident. When downloading photographs that I hadn’t deliberately framed—just fleeting impressions of boats and water—I suddenly noticed entire landscapes revealed within them. Nature had offered up these abstract vistas, as if by chance, and from that moment the collection took shape.

That accident became a turning point. I realised that what I was capturing wasn’t simply a reflection, but an illusion that suggested another kind of place. A horizon line formed out of the shadow of a boat. A mountain range appeared in the ripple of a wake. What was meant to be ordinary became extraordinary, an invitation to escape into imagination.

This is where the tension in the work lies. Our brains are wired to make split-second assessments about what we see—an instinctive survival mechanism. At first glance, the eye tells you, “this is a landscape.” Yet with a second look, the certainty unravels. You start to question: am I looking at water, sky, or something altogether different? The work deliberately plays with this moment of doubt, holding you between recognition and uncertainty.

That in-between state is where creativity lives. As the viewer, you are not simply observing; you are completing the artwork. You bring your own experiences, memories, and subconscious imagery to what you see, and in doing so, you create landscapes that are uniquely yours. A reflection of a hull might become a desert plain. A glint of sunlight might transform into the shimmer of an endless horizon. Each eye constructs its own world.

A Subconscious Drift

The accompanying animation for Beneath a Golden Horizon is an attempt to capture something closer to my felt sense during these moments of creation. It is not about being submerged or subterranean. Instead, it suggests a drifting into the subconscious, the state I often enter when snapping a shot or in moments of deep reflection. At times, it feels as if nature and water have swallowed my consciousness, holding me in suspension.

The new work, Beneath a Golden Horizon, emerged directly from such a state—an in-between place where perception becomes porous, where reflections dissolve into landscapes, and where the horizon is not fixed, but constantly shifting in the mind’s eye.

Dwelling in Ambiguity

In the end, this is the paradox I invite you into: not to fix what you see, but to dwell in the ambiguity. Here, reflection becomes landscape, perception drifts into imagination, and the horizon shimmers golden—always present, always elusive, always just beyond reach.