Luke King-Salter

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I grew up in two very different rural environments: in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. From the nearness of nature in both places I acquired a taste for wilderness, which is evident in the organic forms of my paintings, as well as their complexity. Self-taught as an artist, I studied philosophy and anthropology in Australia and the UK, and then a PhD in comparative literature at the University of Edinburgh in 2020. This formed the basis of my continuing interest in the history of ideas, and my desire to create art that is historically engaging.

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Basically, I think art rests on two pillars: on one hand, nature, and on the other, the art of the past. I take my motto from Cezanne: 'Art is a harmony parallel with nature.' Art is guided by nature, but it is a human invention, so it can only ever be parallel to nature, not recreate it. And, by the same token, it reflects not only nature but also culture. Culture is a cumulative process. Learning to understand, assimilate, and creatively renew work begun by others is essential to that process. For that reason my paintings often connect thematically to other artworks—usually poems, novels and pieces of music. I see it as a process of triangulation, whereby many different people approach the same issues—the same limitless realm of human experience—from as many different angles, with the goal of mapping the psychic terrain we live on.

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