July 2026
Tom Scotcher
'Quarry of Interest'
8th - 25th July 2026
A portal of chalky light glimmers from the hazy mound in the distance. The shadows of dead giants live here. A quiet place with a long history of rocks and earth and silence before footsteps. ‘Quarry of Interest’ is the latest body of work from Lewes-based artist Tom Scotcher, who transforms the traditional landscape ‘en plein air’ into dynamic observations that capture the dramatic, sometimes threatening beauty of the landscape painting. Here, weather and light shifts with an enormity beyond comprehension, making the Sussex backdrop seem to move like the view from a window.
Movement is a central tenet in these works. Surfaces sway with thick tendrils of pigment - both wet and crumbling; mimicking the layers of sedimentary rock beneath the rolling hills that serve almost as a protagonist. Each dab and stroke of paint create a world in which heightened colour heralds the atmosphere of an overcast day or the moment before a summer storm. Here you stand beneath dark trees heavy with leaves or under spindly branches that sway and flicker in surreal light.
In nature, nothing stays still for long. The softest breeze can cut through the landscape and make a river ripple, altering the atmosphere in an instant. The work collects passing moments such as these and capture them quickly with the brush - sealing a fleeting moment on canvas before it flies.
Tom Scotcher (b.1992) is a Lewes based artist who studied Visual Communication (BA Hons) at Central Saint Martins (2011-14) and thereafter at the Royal Drawing School (2016-17). In 2024, Tom was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant to produce a body of work for his solo exhibition, ‘Desire Paths’. He has been nominated for the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize (2019) and has undertaken two residencies at Dumfries House (2019, 2025). Recent selected group exhibitions include: Portrait Artist of the Year: The Exhibition (Compton Verney, 2022), Fair Ground, Art at Glyndebourne (Glynde, 2023, 2025); BUCOLIA II, Blue Shop Gallery (London, 2025) and London Art Fair, Blue Shop Gallery (London, 2026).
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