By: HILES, Carol (1959-)

Acq. Number: 715

Dimensions: 100 x 120 cm, in frame 109 x 129 cm

Artwork_Medium: oil on canvas

Purchased: 2002

Buyer: WAKELIN, Dr Peter

Location: University of South Wales (Oriel y Bont)

Town: Treforest

Notes: Carol Hiles has been painting parks since the 1980s. Her pictures are not topographical records, but draw upon motifs and backdrops taken from diverse places around Cardiff, Newport and Penarth. Sudden rushes of texture like the blowsy blossom of a bank of roses or the curlicues of an iron bench form sporadic punctuation in a field of green and grey. Somehow, Hiles' pictures capture the essence of these places oddly balanced between artifice and nature, dullness and adventure. She sees her objects almost as performers on a stage: 'The fusion of reality and invention continues to intrigue me, to act as an echo of the contrivance and gloriousness of gardens.'