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The Arts Intel Report

John Virtue: An Online Exhibition

July 24 – Sept 9, 2020
Church Hill, Little Milton, Oxford OX44 7QB, UK

In 1955, the Marxist philosopher Guy DeBord coined the term psychogeography—“the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment,” he explained, “consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” Such work is best done, he theorized, by using one’s own two feet. DeBord’s elaboration on the age-old pastime of taking a walk has spawned both literary and artistic sojourns. The British landscape painter John Virtue walks ceaselessly, pausing briefly to sketch, upending the convention of the easel-bound figure, attempting to capture the mutable, windblown, wave-swept environment. This virtual exhibition features small-format works and miniatures by Virtue—dense, inky, cross-hatched views, developed from his sketches, that contain the frenetic pace of his footfall and the whirliness of the elements. —C.J.F.