I have work in two exhibitions starting this week.

I’ve been working on a new series of paintings, called Projections for obvious reasons. Rectilinear forms emerge from the cliffs and hills of the landscape. Who built them? How did they get there?

The inspiration for this work comes from a number of projecting elements one can see around North Yorkshire, including the ironstone kilns at Rosedale and the Bridestones.

These works are part of an ongoing investigation and fascination with the idea of a secret, fictive urbanism in this part of the world.

One of the paintings from the Projections series will be on display at 'A Time to Look' Exhibition at Danby – you'll have to pop along to see it.

There is a design concept of Rus in Urbe, of the ‘country in the city’, which is about introducing elements of the countryside into an urban setting, such as a garden or a park. According to this excellent article in the Architectural Review, it is one of the ‘pervasive characteristics of English urbanism’.

Yet there could also be considered a flip side to this concept, or Urbe in Rus, the insertion of urbanising elements into the countryside. It’s little talked about, a secret urbanism.

If the country in the city is a pervading theme of English urbanism, there is also a pervading theme of fear of its opposite – of the encroachment of the city into the countryside. But instead of sprawl, urban elements could exist as points of intensity into rural environments.

I think this concept infiltrates my work quite profoundly. There's never a totally urban environment nor is there a pure Arcadian realm. It is the tension and symbiosis between the two that fascinates me. What do you think? Let me know at Martin@martingittins.art

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