From London to Bristol is a celebration of two relationships: the British artist Jayson Lilley’s personal affiliation with the city of Bristol, and his ten-year relationship working with curator Anna Smithson, director of Smithson Gallery.
This new collection of Bristol work has brought an opportunity to revisit a city close to Jayson’s heart, having grown up in the West Country. Over the years, this close relationship with the city has provided a natural inspiration for his work and since his first Bristol collection in 2012, much has changed in both the landscape of Jayson’s practice and the city itself.
Precision and detail are at the core of Jayson’s distinct approach. His response to the everchanging nature of the urban landscape is a desire to capture every minute detail, taking up to 1000 photographs for a single screen print. Collating his images back in his home studio, each skyline is carefully reconstructed without bias for popular landmarks or architectural elements. Jayson continues to develop his unique viewpoint through his meticulously presented gold leaf vistas, maintaining his signature bold silhouette of the city cutting into the skyline.
“This new collection of works is really trying to communicate the vibrancy of Bristol. When I come to Bristol I always get a sense of excitement, it feels cosmopolitan and youthful, and I’m trying to capture an element of that in the bright colours and loose pen work that I have introduced into this new collection.”
Jayson Lilley, 2019
