Gallery

Tobit Roche

Born in Manchester in 1954, Tobit spent his childhood in Hong Kong, Canada and India. After studying at the Ontario College of Art, Canada, he spent a year living and working with Duncan Grant at Charleston, Sussex before completing his studies at Camberwell School of Art. Tobit divides his time between London and Hastings and travels frequently to India.

The small paintings on board capture a moment in the landscape, not only what is observed but the circumstances of that moment, the weather, light, sky, temperature and time available. The acute observations of landscape then provide the material for the larger paintings which are worked on in the studio, from memory and imagination. Using glazes and scumbles, the paint is manipulated with the hands as well as the brush. As layers of paint are built up on the canvas and worked into, the subject begins to emerge. There is a spiritual quality to the searching, time is important too, with its accumulated judgements, allowing the emotions and subconscious to find a sense of the sublime.