George Rouy

George Rouy’s ‘Coast of the Sun’ series reflects and materializes the memories and sensations, which he has experienced between two landscapes, England and the Costa del Sol. The paintings recall visceral and human actualities like eating, walking, swimming and feeling the heat of the sun after the English winter. The English muse sits within the Spanish landscape, which derives from the apartment gardens and surrounding areas. The visual cultures in their union create a distorted representation of neither here nor there but instead a portrait of the lived duality which easy jets back and forth between England and the Costa del Sol.
It’s no coincidence that Rouy’s works have been created during the prelude to the EU referendum. The transformation of a predominantly Spanish holiday destination to one which offered ‘Brits Abroad’ a 1 euro pint with Sky Sports, greasy spoon cafes and towering package holiday resorts, which altered the landscapes identity. Rouy’s work reflects a cultural flux whereby a foreign coast integrated within English working class culture and household names is then abandoned after the economic recession hit, leaving Spanish ghost towns. Rouy obtained a National Diploma in Art and Design from UCA Rochester, 2012 and a BA in Fine Art Painting from Camberwell College of Arts, 2015. Rouy lives and practices in London.