Weight of Days, 11 (Richard Skelton)

- An artist-made portfolio containing an original painting from the series.
- A cahier-stitched pamphlet with artist’s essay.
- A colophon card, signed by the artist.​
- A music download card.
- Limited edition of 14.

 

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- View scans of this series here -

 

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This series of paintings is accompanied by a new musical composition distilled from field recordings made in the ruins of Old Rachel's farm, on Rivington Moor, in 2007. Reference to these recordings is made in the 'Scar Tissue' chapter of the book, Landings.

2025 marks the twentieth anniversary of Sustain-Release, the private press through which Richard began ‘marking time’ along the edges of the West Pennine Moors in Lancashire, UK. To celebrate this anniversary, he has produced a series of recordings, texts and artworks that reflect on two decades of work. 

 

As the title might suggest, the Weight of Days series of paintings is preoccupied with the passage of time and its physical corollaries. There is a particular focus on the agencies of change and transformation at work within a landscape. Each painting takes as its source a unique page torn from Richard’s 2012 book Moor Glisk, a text that itself recombines elements from his previous book, Landings.

 

The action of painting is therefore one of gradual accumulation and concealment — an aggregated weight of mark making with paint, graphite, charcoal, dust and soil. During this process forms briefly appear, merge with others, before becoming fragmented and subsumed. In the last instance, although each painting appears fixed, when viewed as part of the series, there is an overall feeling of uncertainty, a sense of irresolution and perpetual flux.