Baltic

In his paintings Flanagan likes to superimpose layer upon layer of colour so as to produce a surface replete with activity and the act of construction. For example, he says,
“ I might include a red layer to create an emotional charge, and if I’m putting black over that, the red will vibrate the black, animate it. I want to convey the landscape but I want I want to convey it in an abstract sense. I don’t want to paint and draw the topography. I want to see how far I can push the thing – abstract it – and still maintain its character.”

He draws upon what might term the ‘psyche’ of the landscape. While his paintings are based on landscape, they can be read in the abstract, as exercises in the juxtaposition of shapes and tones, he brings a new and distinctly personal interpretation to it.
– Brian Kennedy