Alan Rankle (born 1952 in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

, England) is a British artist and is part of the duo Rankle & Reynolds. During a thirty-year career he has worked primarily as a painter. He explores social and

environmental issue Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on th ...

s of the day through Landscape Art.

Background

Rankle was born in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1952 and studied at Rochdale School of Art (1968–70) and Goldsmiths', University of London (1970–73). From 1973 feeling that his work, while well informed by

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

practice, lacked a realistic visceral dimension, he immersed himself in a study of the techniques of 17th century Dutch masters, the

Abstract Expressionists Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

and significantly the

Ch'an Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and So ...

(

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

) painters and calligraphers of China. During 1973–76 he studied

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

and Ch'an Buddhist Arts, including

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...

, with Dr. Liu Hsiu Chi. Fellow students at the Liu Academy included the musician

Francis Monkman Francis Monkman (born 9 June 1949, in Hampstead, North London, England) is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of both the progressive rock band Curved Air and the classical/rock fusion band Sky. He is th ...

and

Fritjof Capra Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist, systems theorist and deep ecologist. In 1995, he became a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He is on the faculty of Schumacher ...

author of 'The Tao of Physics.' During this time Rankle's pursuit of his interests in

Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

painting led him to further studies and later employment in the field of

art conservation The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include preve ...

. His first exhibition, held at the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

, London, was a multi-media performance/installation based on

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's ''The Pardonner's Tale'' (1973). Rankle takes as his main subject the development of landscape art as a concept related to changes in attitude to the environment. In some works he treats the entire history of

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

almost as a found object; manipulating and cross-referencing styles and techniques from diverse periods and cultures, within a

post-modernist Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

fusion of abstract, ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' and figurative imagery. In "Landscapes for the North" Maidstone Museum 1996 he states: "Styles are emblems of the ways we can shift our attention". Examples of his paintings are in the collections of several Lancashire museums and

Hastings Museum and Art Gallery Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery located in, Hastings, East Sussex, England. Established in 1892, it originally resided in the Brassey Institute (now the town's library), but moved to its current location in 1927. it ...

Environmental concerns

Following a group exhibition at LYC Gallery in Cumbria, with

Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy (born 26 July 1956) is an English sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural and urban settings. Early life Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire on 26 J ...

and Michael Jepson; Rankle's work in landscape art became starkly politicised. In the summer of 1982 on his first trip to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

he became aware of the effects of

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...

on the lakes and forests of

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

, and the patently inadequate response of the establishment. A series of landmark installation/performance pieces followed intended to draw attention to environmental issues (often as fund raising events for Arts for the Earth, the art 'wing' of

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

). These included a 30 metre long scroll painting produced on the top of

Beachy Head Beachy Head is a chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is located within the administrative area of Eastbourne Borough Council which owns the land, formin ...

in Sussex with his collaborator Jan Stephens, and several notable pieces with the left-field artists group Order out of Chaos; one of which 'Discarded Sculptures' (1986) was the first project to bring his work to the attention of a wider public.

Earthscape

A period of activism in which he attempted to work within the existing mores of the conventional art world culminated in 'Earthscape' (1991), a large scale performance/installation created in the form of an International Competition on a theme of 'Environmental Solutions' where artists such as Andrew Bick and Luke Elwes were invited to submit works implying a positive response to the burgeoning environmental crisis. Curated with Christine Goldschmidt for the Hastings Trust, this project involved a wide range of collaborators including Mike von Joel, Laetitia Yhap,

Andrew Graham-Dixon Andrew Michael Graham-Dixon (born 26 December 1960) is a British art historian and broadcaster. Life and career Early life and education Andrew Graham-Dixon is a son of the barrister Anthony Philip Graham-Dixon (1929–2012), Q.C., and (M ...

(who were the judges of the competition),

Art in Ruins Art in Ruins was formed in 1984 as a collaborative interventionist practice in art and architecture, staging exhibitions and publishing texts, by Hannah Vowles and Glyn Banks. Alex Coles. ''Appearances are Against Us'', Art and Text, Los Angeles ...

, Lynne Green, Nick Wates and the book and exhibition designer Jeremy Brook.

Recent work

Since his 1993 exhibition 'Riverfall & Other Works' at Southampton Art Gallery, Rankle has concentrated on painting, with notable exhibitions at Maidstone Museum; Radicev Museum, Saratov, 1996; Danielle Arnaud/Clink Wharf Gallery, 1998; Folkestone Museum, 1999; as well as numerous gallery shows in Europe, Scandinavia and the USA. A first retrospective exhibition, 'Landscapes for the Turning Earth', was held at Gallery Oldham 2006-07. A second retrospective, "Selected Works 1993–2009", at Fondazione Stelline, in Milan during February and March 2010, also featured a major collaborative work with the installation artist Kirsten Reynolds entitled "On the Edge of Wrong".

Sources

*Anthony Wallersteiner 'Alan Rankle:Terre Verte' Danielle Arnaud/Riverfall Press 1998 * Laurence Bristow-Smith 'Alan Rankle:Landscapes for the Turning Earth, Paintings 1986–2006' Gallery Oldham 2006 *Roger Woods 'Alan Rankle at Southampton Art Gallery' Art-Line International, Winter 1993 *Imy Antal 'Alan Rankle: Light + Meaning' Galleria Seriola, Finland, 2006 *Emanuelle Beluffi 'Alan Rankle & Kirsten Reynolds:On the Edge of Wrong' First Gallery/Italian Factory 2010

Footnotes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankle, Alan 1952 births People from Oldham Living people British painters British male painters British contemporary artists Landscape artists Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Conservator-restorers