Painter Malcolm Ludvigsen is in demand. This weekend (Dec 7 and 8) his paintings are on show at York Cemetery Chapel and his exhibition at Grays Court has been extended through February. Below, a gallery of his paintings, and here Malcolm introduces his work
I am a plein-air oil painter best known for my Yorkshire seascapes and beach scenes. I believe that working outside, directly in front of the subject, gives my work a life and vibrancy sadly lacking in much of studio work.
My paintings can be seen in homes and galleries throughout the UK and the USA – and many other places too. In 2013 I won the £5,000 Oldie British Art Award with my Filey seascape.
As well as being a painter I am also a professor of mathematics, specialising in relativity and cosmology. About ten years ago I took a sabbatical and started painting for fun.
I think the thing that first attracted me was John Ruskin’s exhortation that all men, as part of their morning salutations, should go out and paint a picture of the sky. \This sounded like a very nice thing to do, so I decided to give it a go, and I’ve not really stopped painting since.
My professorship is from the University of Linkoping in Sweden where I worked for several years. I also do some teaching at York University.
My research work deals mostly with black holes, gravitational radiation and cosmology. I am the author of quite a well-known book called General Relativity – A Geometric Approach, published by Cambridge University Press (also available in a French translation with a preface by Sir Roger Penrose).
I find little incompatibility between my mathematical work and my painting: both are based on geometrical intuition, one internal the other external.
I live and work in York.
- On Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8 from 10am to 4pm, Malcolm and three more of York’s most prominent painters – Lesley Birch, Jean Luce and Jo Walton – are exhibiting their recent work in the newly renovated York Cemetery Chapel
- His exhibition at Grays Court, Chapter House Street, York has been extended till the end of February 2014. Open daily, 10am-5pm
- For more about Malcolm Ludvigsen, see his website
Malcolm Ludvigsen gallery
