The fourth solo exhibition at Frestonian Gallery by Tim Braden is a synthesis of two enduring subjects in his work –mountain landscapes and influential artists of the twentieth century. Both towering subjects loom over Braden’s practice, though in benevolent, rather than menacing, fashion.
In Gallery 1 we are surrounded by the rarefied air of mountain peaks and ridges, still Alpine lakes, crashing waterfalls and plunge pools. The waterfall is the central motif in this extraordinary new series of paintings. In describing both the subject and the resulting works Braden refers to the waterfall as ‘A wall of water, literally a river upended’. Here these powerful – both literally and metaphorically – phenomena are caught in a single moment, frozen in time, and yet theirawesome dynamism is retained in each work. The focus, however, is a little off, or rather ‘off-set’. The strange chromatic haloing of the imagery is an allusion to the source material – the reproductions of nature photography in magazines and travel brochures. These are mountainscapes that are painted not just from the natural world, but from the popular imagination.
Moving through the space into Gallery 2, the crashing of water and the cutting of valleys continues, but here, in one corner there is a shift in perspective. The vertiginous rock-formations of Yosemite National Park are joined by a colossal female figure. The ruse is quickly understood. In The Scene Painter our focus shifts – here is a muralist rendering the landscape, turned away from us and absorbed in her work. We have moved from the painted to the painter. In Gallery 3 we find a host of painters and their habitats. In Sonia Delaunay (Legion d’Honneur) the great painter and designer stands smiling beside one of her exquisite Orphist canvases. In The Collectors we find Pierre Bonnard, not in his person, but through his home in Le Cannet, with the titular collectors caught in a pose beneath its shuttered windows. In each of these works we find the primary subject, and then the secondary, the third, the fourth. Each of Braden’s works here, is a series of tangents and intrigues rendered in elegant and beguiling style – a series of journeys by the artist, that we are happily invited to join.
This exhibition coincides with the publication of the second major monograph on Tim Braden’s work. ‘I Can See All The Colours Now’ is published by Anomie Publishing in partnership with Frestonian Gallery. The publication will be available in hardback in advance from Frestonian Gallery and through the Anomie website, and in bookstores by spring 2026. To pre-order a signed copy please contact gallery@frestoniangallery.com.
