Desire, 2021 Oil on Gesso Panel 50 x 60 cm

The term “landscape” has many interpretations, but one of them describes it as the outward manifestation of
a region, resulting from the interaction of geological, geomorphological, biological, and cultural layers that have changed over time, as well as how humans perceive, depict, and value it. Over the years, painters were known to incorporate landscapes in their paintings as a method of self-expression, appreciate nature and signify and enhance their works. Not only do they bear witness to the happenings within a painting, but also give off the emotions required for the viewers to suitably interpret without reading the text. They make viewers question their importance - How essential is the space to the artist? And within that wide-eyed dance of exploration, each human is consumed by their relationships, struggle, peace and tranquility.

London based oil painter, Gavin Maughfling examines vulnerability and power within queer relationships. He sees these outdoor and indoor spaces as one which serves as witnesses to human interaction. They work as emotional spaces created between strangers and within intimate relationships, and to the physical and verbal communication taking place during and after sex. Employing a unique artistic process conceived out of film stills, personal archives, and memory, Gavin elevates the strength of a setting by examining its weaknesses.

He places his protagonists in strategic positions and in intimate poses doing the most humane things. Through shifting frontiers of passion and affection, trust and fear, honesty and deceit, the characters in these paintings are negotiating a path that is occasionally dangerous. The works replicate the manner in which we probe in real

life using words, our bodies, and our eyes, searching for some kind of fusion between ourselves and the impenetrable other through their formal and physical language of motion, space, and colour.

Read Full Interview in our Issue 8