The Cliffs and the Sea

Gao Xiang, Silent Cliffs 5, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30cm, available

I’ll be honest with you. I’m more of a mountain girl. Give me a rock anytime, and the higher the better. But the allure of the sea, it beckons whether or not we are a fish at heart.

In 2014 while on the Normandy coast in France, Gao Xiang captured the conversation between the light, the sea, and the cliffs in a series he named Silent Cliffs.

Gao Xiang, Silent Cliffs 4, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30cm, available

Morning after the storm, Ligurian coast

A few weeks ago, almost a decade later, while on the Ligurian coast in Italy I snapped a few photographs of the sea and the cliffs. Sorting through the photos, I was struck by the timelessness of what both Gao Xiang and I focused on, years and countries apart.

The appeal of the play between the light, the cliffs, and the sea is so assuringly universal. It’s a colour thing. It’s a movement thing. It’s a texture thing. I don’t know, it’s a thing.

Gao Xiang, Silent Cliffs 2, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30cm (private collection)

Sunset, Ligurian coast (it’s a colour thing)

You can see other sample works by Gao Xiang on my website here: https://www.katrinelevin.com/artistpage-gao-xiang

Silent Cliffs 5 and Silent Cliffs 4 (the first two images) are available, please contact me directly by email if interested: katrine@katrinelevin.com