From Africa to Iceland by John Rogers

From Africa to Iceland is an artist’s journey through space and time. It is an exploration of the Atlantic coast in search of beauty in nature and wilderness.  It is also a study of the way people relate to their landscape through custom, vernacular architecture, language and work, and the ways in which these are linked beyond the national boundaries which now exist. Above all, it is a search for beauty through the discipline of painting.

Produced during the period 1983 to the present, these works represent many areas and countries on the Celtic sea road, including Morocco, Galicia, Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, the Hebrides and Iceland.

To begin this Celtic Journey, John Rogers sailed a small open boat, single-handed, from his home in Pembrokeshire across to Ireland in the wake of those who for millennia sailed to maraud, trade or settle along these shores.  Subsequently, his voyages became all the more exotic and adventurous and these exquisite paintings tell the story of his exploration of those lands, near and far. 

This exhibition is a search not only for the elemental character of the places John Rogers visited, but also for the less tangible essential spirit that identifies them as Celtic.

“As a Welsh landscape artist I now have a richer understanding of who we are and where we live.” John Rogers

With Family roots in Wales, Ireland and Cornwall, John Rogers was born in Cardiff in 1939. He attended Cardiff College of Art studying under John Roberts, David Tinker and Phil Jennings. He has worked in theatre, television and the circus as well as in interior design, before painting full time and opening his gallery in St David’s, Pembrokeshire in 1972.