Natural Colours
Until 21st November at The Randolph Hotel

If you’re looking for a bit of time out from hectic Oxford, then visit Owen Middleton’s Natural Colours exhibition at the Randolph. This tranquil room filled with evocative photographs of South and Central America is the perfect ecapist experience. Ancient Skies, Palm Dusk, Desert Colours - why, even the titles are straight out of Enya...

I was greeted by a wonderful and rather surreal toucan eying me with a piercing blue eye from above its bright yellow beak. The simple primary colours of the bird are startlingly captured, and convey the stunning vividity of nature that is rarely reproduced by any simulated image. These appealing primary tones continue throughout the series of photographs, the artist reducing the image down to the basic form and thus capturing its intricacy.

Banana Leaves is a striking bright green, so close to the leaves that the image is transformed into something other than a leaf on a tree, and becomes a phenomenon of incredible detail and rather strange independence. Crystal Water Swirl is a peaceful bluey-green and combines a calming serenity with the impression of constant natural motion. Sunset Gull, taken when Middleton was only sixteen, shows the solitary bird set against its immense habitat, while Ancient Skies sets man against the backround of a vast natural landscape. All emphasise the complex play of light and shadow upon a simple image, and again juxtapose the tremendous proportions of nature with its astonishing delicacy.

Other photographs concentrate on landscapes that stretch into the distance in the dusk or the dawn, picking up a time of day or night and playing with the effects of light and shade and contrast. On each work is a quotation from Gibran’s The Prophet, which not only makes each very personal, but also matches the spirit of this artist’s thoughtful work.

This small exhibition is both cheerful and soothing. It won’t take up much of your time, and you’ll leave feeling refreshed. And what a wonderful toucan....

Jane Labous, November 1999