Fionn Reilly: English Landscapes
CPW
July 23 – September 4, 2022
Kingston, NY – The Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) announces the exhibition English Landscapes, showcasing works by noted local photographer Fionn Reilly. This solo show brings together a brilliant series of small-scale color photographs that Reilly made in his native England between 2018 and 2020. The exhibition will open on July 23 at CPW’s new Kingston gallery at 474 Broadway.
In Fionn Reilly’s English series one can see brick walls pierced by brightly colored doors, waste bins filled with discarded appliances, hedges obliterating modest suburban houses, and urban facades with post-Brexit graffiti. These views are hardly traditional landscapes; they are surfaces rather than vistas. Reilly’s quiet documentation of domestic architecture and the ruins of popular culture serves as a mournful and nostalgic meditation on the merciless cruelty of time. These photographs suggest a lapsed or wounded culture: an ancient brick house is propped up by a prefab door from B&Q, the British equivalent to Home Depot; the once-proudly named pub The Albion sits boarded up, incongruously tagged with the word “LOVE”; the placemat beneath a coffee and sandwich of the iconic British World Cup victory over Germany in 1966 on British soil. These are the unironic and poignant observations of an English emigre, now relocated to Woodstock, a look back on a country he now sees differently.
“There is an old English saying that goes ‘Safe as houses.’” Reilly says, “The group of photographs I call ‘English Landscapes’ evokes a similar sense of nostalgia alongside a curious search for safety. The series as a whole could perhaps be described as a self-portrait. But while the photographs depict sites in my native England, they are places that I had never before visited. The subjects of these images–rooms, houses, dust bins, and football pitches–touched my sense of humor and topophilia. The nostalgia these scenes generate is a purely emotional connection.”
Fionn Reilly: English Landscapes is organized by Sarrah Danziger, the Education Coordinator at CPW. The exhibition opening will be July 23, 2022, from 5-7 pm, and will coincide with Upstate Arts Weekend. The exhibition will continue through September 4, 2022, at 474 Broadway in Kingston.
About the Artist
Fionn Reilly has been photographing throughout the world for more than twenty years. Reilly studied at the London College of Communication, and is now best known for his documentary-style photography. His work has been featured in numerous publications in the United States and throughout the world, including Esquire, The New York Times, iD Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Italian Vogue, and GQ. His first monograph, Kolkata Calcutta (2017), was inspired by the films of the celebrated director Satyajit Ray and the great Indian photographer Raghubir Singh. His second book, English Landscapes (2022), accompanies this exhibition.
Virtual Walkthrough
CPW’s exhibitions are free and open to the public due to the continued support from the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Art, Joy of Giving Something, the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, our members, and other supporters.
This exhibition will also be viewable as a virtual walkthrough via Matterport, made possible with funds from the NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in Partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, with the support of the New York State Legislature.