Abstract Expressionism

Alan Rankle was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England in

1952. He studied at Rochdale School of Art and Goldsmiths

College, University of London. Later he immersed himself

techniques of 17th century Dutch Masters, the Abstract

Expressionists and the Ch'an (Zen) painters and

calligraphers of China.

In his current series of paintings, Mothland, Rankle

continues his preoccupation with revitalising the

tradition of landscape art within the context of our post-

industrial, and arguably pre-apocalyptic, world. In recent

works Rankle seems to treat the whole history of landscape

painting as a found object. He fuses aspects of Classical

and Romantic painting with Abstract Expressionistic

gestures.

Alan continues to develop his major themes relating the

idealised tradition of Sublime Romantic landscape art to

the increasingly fragmented, clearly insanely, broken

relationship of our global societies to the natural

environment.