Favourite Artists Inspired by the Natural World
Kim Tschang-Yeul: The Art of Water Drops
My dad introduced me to Kim Tschang-Yeul’s artwork, and I’m so glad he did!
Kim Tschang-Yeul, a Korean artist is known for his mesmerising water drop paintings and spent much of his career exploring themes of nature, memory, and illusion.
Kim’s water drops are more than just realistic images; they carry deep meaning, reflecting his thoughts, feelings, and life experiences. He once said that painting waterdrops was a way “to cleanse himself, a peaceful, healing process. Each drop represents calm, renewal, and letting go.”
The clear, reflective surface of the waterdrops creates an illusion that encourages you to look beyond the surface and explore deeper meaning. Through the transparency of water, Kim expresses how life is fragile and temporary. Like nature, his art captures brief moments of beauty, reminding us how delicate and fleeting life can be.
Andy Goldsworthy: Collaborating with Nature
Andy Goldsworthy, a British sculptor and land artist, is known for his deep connection to nature and his ability to transform natural materials into breathtaking, temporary works of art. Goldsworthy creates sculptures using materials like leaves, stones, ice, and twigs, working directly in the landscape. His art is often impermanent, meant to interact with the natural environment as it changes and decays over time.
Goldsworthy’s work is all about immersing himself in the environment and working with natural materials in their raw state. He doesn’t impose himself on the landscape but collaborates with it, shaping his creations in response to the conditions of a particular place and time. Whether he’s building stone arches or arranging leaves in a flowing river, his art emphasises the natural cycles of growth, decay, and change.
Bryan Nash Gill: The Hidden Life of Trees
I came across Bryan’s work on Pinterest while looking for inspiration this year!
Bryan Nash Gill was an American artist known for his captivating woodcut prints that reveal the inner beauty of trees. His work focused on connecting people to the natural world by highlighting the textures, patterns, and life cycles of trees through the art of wood relief printing.
Gill's work was deeply rooted in nature, specifically in his exploration of trees. He would create prints by carefully cutting sections from logs or stumps, sanding them down, and applying ink to make impressions of the tree’s rings. Each print displayed the detailed patterns formed over the life of the tree, revealing its growth, age, and the environmental conditions it endured. This process highlighted nature’s complexity and made visible the passage of time hidden within each tree.
Through these artists, I find endless inspiration in nature's beauty and cycles, each reflecting a different perspective on the world around us.