KURT JACKSON – “A New Genre of Landscape Painting”

Mark Cocker, Helen Dunmore, Bill Hare, Howard Jacobson, Richard Mabey,

Philip Marsden, Bel Mooney, William Packer, John Russell Taylor, Tim Smit

and Mike Tooby.

He’s been described by the Financial

Times

as

“one

of

Britain’s

most

compelling contemporary painters” and

now the work of Kurt Jackson is being

explored with a new book launched this

summer.

“Kurt Jackson – A New Genre of

Landscape Painting” has been written by

a group of eleven people from author

Bel Mooney to naturalist Mark Cocker

and former music producer Tim Smit

and charts the fascinating development

of Kurt Jackson’s near 30 year career to

date.

A visual feast with more than 100 illustrations, the book charts Jackson’s travels and

explorations through the natural world and easily conveys the zoology graduate’s

deep sense of understanding of natural history, ecology, politics and the

environment.

Kurt Jackson explained: “It is something that I think any artist would hope would

happen to them in their lifetime, to put them on the map and really flag up their work

as being that of a serious artist.”

“The joy of the book for me is that is not only shows all the different aspects of my

work and the diversity both in subject matter and medium but it also allows people

from all walks of life to see it and discuss it. Ideally this book is for everyone. I’m

hoping it’s going to be read by not just the art world and the student education world

but also by the general public and I want it to be accessed by all walks of society.”

“Most art books are written solely from the point of view of the art world which is only

one part of me so to have it from all the different aspects and to reflect all the

different hats I wear is ideal.”

The book will be launched in Cornwall on 3 July 2010 at the Tate St Ives with an

introduction by the former principal of the world famous University College Falmouth,

Professor Alan Livingston, and a talk by one of its authors, Tim Smit of the Eden

Project.

Kurt Jackson said: ““To have some of the best writers around writing about me is

truly an honour and such a joy. Sometimes the writers were just given a complete

free reign and others were asked to talk about specific aspects of my work. For

example, Tim Smit has put on his old hat as a record producer to look at my work

with music festivals like The Eden Sessions and, of course, Glastonbury. I am lucky

enough to consider some of the writers as my own friends, others I know have

written about me in the past but the remainder I don’t know at all.”

“It was quite scary reading it for the first time but also very flattering and quite

humbling.”

Having graduated from Oxford, Kurt Jackson travelled extensively before settling in

Cornwall in 1984 and immersing himself in the arts and his commitment to the

environment. The new book offers an insight into his extensive range of materials

and techniques and provides a definitive account of his work so far.

“Kurt Jackson – A New Genre of Landscape Painting” is published by Lund

Humphries in conjunction with Lemon Street Gallery in Truro. 160 pages.

Hardback. £35.