Technical abstraction is a hard road to trod but this works signal a change. A return to vitrality and the essence of what painting can achieve. Bold colours and a statement.
Exhibition notes: Onya McCausland
CLOSE Gallery Somerset is proud to present a new solo exhibition, Tailings, by British contemporary artist Onya McCausland, whose work explores the environmental impact of industry through the material language of paint.
Central to McCausland’s work are her bespoke paints, which transform waste products from industrial mining into luminous, site-specific colour. The result is a collection of paintings in a palette of muted ochres, rusts and smoky tones. Yet the meditative appearance of these hues is challenged by the paints’ origin: what appears natural is in fact the residue of ecological disturbance.
By working with pigments sourced directly from industrial contexts, McCausland extends traditions of site-responsive art while questioning long-standing conventions of landscape painting. Her use of ochre carries deep historical resonance, referencing some of the earliest uses of pigment in prehistoric cave painting. In doing so, the work draws connections between ancient human mark-making and contemporary ecological realities, emphasising the enduring relationships between material, community and environment. The contemporary and the historic become one.
In this exhibition there will be 30 works on view, both new and archived, which display the breadth and depth of McCausland’s practice. From works such as 51.44293° N, 0.26868° E (Bluewater) that delicately bring out the subtle variation within chalk formations to the stark metallic, oxidised brushstrokes of 50.15596° N, 5.67996° W (Geevor) and 51°43 33.56 N 3°07 58.63 W, Tailings is a testament to the power and profundity of McCausland’s oeuvre, each work – as one may infer from the coordinates of each title – a precise document of space, reflection and imagination.
A recurring theme throughout the exhibition is the overlap between human and geological time. Through layered surfaces, subtle tonal shifts and expansive monochrome fields, the paintings evoke perspectives that move between aerial and ground-level viewpoints, suggesting both distance and proximity. These shifts in scale and orientation invite viewers to reconsider how landscapes are seen, understood and inhabited, particularly in regions where industrial activity has left lasting environmental and social consequences.
McCausland’s practice is highly collaborative. In recent years, she has worked closely with organisations including the UK Coal Authority and paint manufacturers, such as Michael Harding, to develop sustainable pigments and coatings derived from mining waste. One such project involved the creation of an exterior-grade wood stain made from mine waste ochre and a plant-based bio-resin binder, used as part of an architectural intervention for a former miners’ hospital, Six Bells, in South Wales. Through sustained engagement with local communities, McCausland’s projects demonstrate how waste materials can be re-purposed as active agents in processes of renewal and collective storytelling.
Grounded in research across geology and chemistry, Tailings functions less as a collection of images and more as a material record embodying both environmental memory and industrial aftermath while inviting a slow, reflective engagement with questions of sustainability, landscape, and the enduring impact of extraction.
Each layer of paint embodies memory, a fragment of our landscape at a particular point in time, an aggregate of human and geological processes that undergird our present reality.
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Onya McCausland is an artist whose practice combines studio paintings, wall installations, and collaborative, site-specific projects. McCausland’s creative practice is highly community-driven and pedagogical; in 2020 she established a research and reading group called Environment, Ecology, Sustainability and was appointed Head of Undergraduate Painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2022.
CLOSE, founded by Freeny Yianni, is a distinctive contemporary art space rooted in the Somerset landscape, with an additional project space in Marylebone. Born from Yianni’s deep commitment to working closely with artists, CLOSE has evolved into a vibrant hub for residencies, exhibitions and education – defined by curatorial sensitivity and a spirit of collaboration. The gallery works with both living artists and artist estates, offering a unique platform for thoughtful, long-form exhibitions that encourage deeper engagement. Its rural setting fosters a slower, more reflective rhythm, serving as an intentional counterpoint to the often-frenetic pace of the wider art world.
Guided by Yianni’s extensive knowledge of contemporary art history, CLOSE forges connections between local communities and international voices, championing a broad range of artistic practices. Art at CLOSE is not confined to traditional walls; it extends into the gardens and surrounding landscape, inviting visitors to pause, reflect, and connect more deeply with the work and the environment.
Images courtesy of the artist. Article sponsored by patron of the artist
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
