John Brooks Member's Gallery

Artist: John Brooks

A moment in time

A layered montage of street scene and buildings in Haikou on the island of Hainan in China. The activities of the figures captured in a moment of time when they seem to be expectant and looking at an approaching object or person.

Westminster 3

A layered montage of a neo-classical building in central London which attempts to convey the scale and internal structure of the building.

Water Tower 4

An abstract construction based on a concrete water tower in southern India which won the Grand Prize in New York in 2016.

Green bridge

A montage of a green painted raliway bridge created by layers superimposed and reverse images.

Guangdong army camp

Part of an abandoned armyy camp in northern Guangdong Province, China. A very atmospheric location.

Artist Statement

My years of study of architectural form through my work has shaped my perception of this subject. Also iI have travelled extensively around the world since an early age. Consequently the many cultures and varieties of landscape have influenced my view of the world.

I have been particularily inspired by the work of David Hockney, Andrew Wyeth, Callahan and very much admire the work of, in no particular order, Fred Hertzog and Joel Meyerowitz. In the first 20 years of my work all images were created with my 50 year old Rolleiflex using Kodak VPS or Portra color negative emulsion rated at 160ASA. No other technical information is offered, I am not a techno freak, for me the composition is what counts.

Over the last five years much of my work has been created using an extremely light and colour sensitive cameras , both digtal and film cameras of medium and large format, adding to the accessability of the subject. The subjects are often abstractions and worked on to fully explore their potential and depth as a statement of the perceived inner nature of the subject.