�WHERE THE DRAGON SPREADS HIS WINGS�
Lle lleda'r Ddraig ei hadennydd

A commentary with pictures on Carmarthenshire based artist

ANTHONY RICHARDS

Extracted from full article published in Cambria Magazine

There are so few artists that can evoke, using paint, what Durrell has termed �the spirit of place�. For me, there is only one painter that can effectively conjure Carmarthenshire�s �spirit of place�� and that is the Amman Valley artist, Anthony Richards.

In fact you could go as far as to say, that the landscape does not really exist (in the Welsh consciousness) unless it has been painted by one these �few� artists. I mean certain obscure views of Pembrokeshire have assumed a vastly disproportionate importance in people�s perception or �idea� of Pembrokeshire because they were important (obsessions) to John Knapp Fisher. The same applies to Kyffin Williams and Snowdonia. In fact, I�m not sure that he has ever actually painted Snowdon itself! which is the subject and main feature of metric tonnes of annual tourism brochures and marketing material and yet Williams� or Richards� imagery has more penetrative power than a thousand photos.

Maybe the vision of these artists, is not the right one to attract day visitors and sell bed nights but nevertheless it will often tell a truer harsher �story� that will stay in the subconscious and subtly influence how people think.

This is why painting, in a time of internet, TV, video and multi-media, is still such an important medium; it can define and form a subliminal consciousness about an area in a way that no other medium can , not even film. It is also the proper function of the artist to reflect back to us a more meaningful insight or perception of our reality and presence in the landscape � give us clues of how we really stand in Nature�s scheme of things.

Australian Aborigines employ existentialist concepts and beliefs of the �Dreaming� to make sense of reality. According to Chatwin, who wrote one of the most depressing books ever about the Welsh mentality (On the Black Hill), the Aborigine, when he goes �walk about�, will �sing the landscape� he walks through where the features and rocks and landscape patterns provide the notation and lyrics of this imagined song sheet.

In this paradigm, Anthony Richards must be considered the specialist in the Carmarthenshire verses through his songs in paint �where the dragon spreads his wings�.

.....Continued in Cambria Magazine

c.2000 Chris Jones

For

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