Private View Friday 23rd February 7-9pm, upstairs at The Art Shop

Kumar left the Royal Academy Schools over 15 years ago for the Welsh hill country of R. S. Thomas. His paintings, like Thomas’s poems, are marked by a telling purity of language, simple words, short nouns, harsh and austere in a sombre landscape.

Kumar generally begins with a broad brushstroke using the square wide end of a large watercolour brush. The eloquence of his brush marks and his use of colour is seen in his handling of sky and land – the grey sky, the vibrant truly blue of the hills in a winter landscape, a metaphor for distance.

‘Kumar’s landscapes are accessible enough to gladden the heart of traditionalists while striking a fresh note. To those who know them, it is startling to see such familiar places through different eyes.’  Caroline Juler, art critic, Galleries magazine