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Strata, 100 new paintings by landscape artist Jeremy Gardiner (b.1957), celebrates the spectacular Jurassic Coast on the 25th anniversary of its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gardiner has studied this coast for decades, constantly developing new approaches to depict its changing textures. For Strata, he visited twenty locations each year from 2018 to 2022, painting in different seasons, weather conditions, and as landfalls altered the coast. Geology is embedded in Gardiner’s work through laser-cut fossils specific to the locations depicted. Breaking new ground through its conceptual rigour and assimilation of techniques informed by science, geomorphology, virtual reality and digital imaging, Strata engages with coastal landscape at a time when it is viewed increasingly as a precious, threatened asset.
Lavishly illustrated, Judith LeGrove’s essay, ‘The Texture of Time’ explores the influence of contemporary art and photography on Gardiner as well as the legacy of fossilists, film makers, writers and conceptual artists connected with the Jurassic coast. An essay on deep time and the Anthropocene, by award-winning writer and Professor of Literature and the Environment, Dr David Farrier, enhances the book’s significance. A ‘plate’ section, at the end of the publication, illustrates each of Gardiner’s 100 paintings in colour.
About the author
Jeremy Gardiner is a landscape painter with a deep interest in geology and time, who brings to his work a vital knowledge of contemporary practices, such as digital mapping and imagery, as tools to shape and transform what he sees. He worked for 15 years in the United States, has taught extensively and exhibits internationally. This publication accompanies an exhibition of Strata at the newly reopened Southampton City Art Gallery in October 2026.
