245. Andrew Torr - Letter From Helmand

2026
Acrylic on canvas
17 x 17 x 3.5 cm

Over the past five years, Torr has focused on a series of paintings depicting suburban landscapes and the modest, vernacular architecture found throughout towns and cities across the UK. Though formally composed, the works carry a quiet melancholy and sense of ennui, transforming familiar housing estates into meditations on rhythm, repetition, and atmosphere.

White eaves, UPVC fittings, and architectural details are emphasised to create visual rhythms across the surface of the painting, flattening the illusion of depth and drawing attention to the material qualities of paint itself. Balancing representation with abstraction, Torr introduces tension between observed reality and gestural mark-making, using square compositions to disrupt conventional expectations of landscape painting. The works can appear almost untethered from orientation, reinforcing the sense of flattened space and abstract structure. While the subject matter serves primarily as a vehicle for paint, the images retain a distinctly quiet, English melancholy, finding unexpected beauty within otherwise unremarkable surroundings.

Torr studied Fine Art at Wimbledon School of Art, graduating with a BA (Hons) in 1987.

Recent exhibitions include the NEAC Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries (2022–2025); Nocturnes at Liminal Gallery, Margate (solo, 2023); the ING Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries (2023); Salon Show at Liminal Gallery, Margate (2023); the British Art Prize at Oxo Tower Gallery (2022 & 2024); the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (2024); Heartlands at Liminal Gallery, Margate (solo, 2025); The Painted City at Well Hung Gallery, Hoxton (2025); Trainspotting #T30 at Atom Gallery, Islington (2026); and the NEAC Open at The Russell Gallery, Putney (2026).

Awards include a Special Commendation at the British Art Prize (2022), the Founders Prize at the ING Discerning Eye (2023), First Prize at the Jackson’s Art Prize (2024), and the Winsor & Newton Award at the NEAC Annual Exhibition (2024). In 2025, Torr was elected a member of the New English Art Club.