JOHN ABELL
Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed
24 | 04 - 27 | 09 | 26

[English below]

MAE TEN CAERDYDD A'R YMDDIRIEDOLAETH GENEDLAETHOL DINEFWR YN CYD-CYFLWYNO ARDDANGOSFA O BEINTIADAU WEDI’U HYSBRYDOLI GAN DIRWEDD GAN JOHN ABELL, GWIR DDATHLIAD O DIR A CHWEDLONIAETH CYMRU - GYDA LANSIAD ARBENNIG YN RHAN O ŴYL LENYDDIAETH LLANDEILO

Mae'r ddihareb Gymreig "Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed" yn disgrifio'r teimlad o ddychwelyd i gyflwr meddwl cytbwys ac ailgysylltu â'r byd naturiol i ddod o hyd i dawelwch meddwl a lles emosiynol. Mae'n cynrychioli cysylltiad dwfn â'r amgylchedd, lle mae coed yn symboleiddio cof, llinach, a pherthyn; lloches ar gyfer iachâd ac adnewyddu.

Tyfodd y casgliad hwn o baentiadau o daith ar draws tirwedd Bannau Brycheiniog, o'r dwyrain i'r gorllewin. Dros haf 2025, treuliodd yr artist John Abell amser yn gwersylla ac yn cerdded trwy'r bryniau hyn, gan ymgolli yn hanes gwerin, iaith a thirwedd y wlad y mae wedi'i adnabod ar hyd ei oes. Mae'r paentiadau hyn yn rhannu ei weledigaeth o leoedd gwyllt De Cymru.

Mae llên gwerin a mytholeg yn themâu annatod wedi’u plethu drwy waith celf Abell, wedi’i drwytho mewn gwylltni Gothig ac yn aml yn gwyro tuag at y ffantastig a'r apocalyptaidd. Mae ei ddiddordeb mewn llenyddiaeth, hanes gwerin a barddoniaeth ei famwlad yn mynd law yn llaw â'i brofiad byw o'r tirwedd. Nid paentiadau darluniadol gan artist ar ymweliad yw rhain, ond gwelwn wybodaeth glir ac adnabyddiaeth amlwg â thopograffeg y wlad hon, wedi pryfio o gysylltiad ysbrydol â ffurfiwyd drwy oriau o ymgolli godidog dros milltiroedd o gerdded drwy'r tir.

Mae paentiadau Abell yn farddonol ac arallfydol, yn feiddgar ac yn llawn patrwm ailadroddus, llifeiriol. Drwy gyfuno’r tirwedd â naratif, mae'r gweithiau hyn yn archwilio hunaniaeth werin lleoliadau penodol, gan edrych ar ffynonellau cyfoethog a hynafol fel mythau paganaidd, naratifau Cristnogol cynnar, a cheinciau niferus y Mabinogi.

Mae hanes amserol yn gynhenid ​​yn y tirwedd ac mae Abell yn manteisio ar hynny. Mae ei baentiadau'n hanesyddol ac yn ffwturistaidd ar yr un pryd, gyda'i iaith weledol drawiadol a'i fotiffau nodedig yn golchi drosom ag egni brwd. Yn ei hanfod, gwaith Cymro balch sy'n archwilio’i dir ac yn ymchwilio'i iaith yw'r celf yma, gan estyn at wybodaeth a pherchnogaeth ddyfnach o'i wlad a'i ddiwylliant. Mae'r paentiadau hyn yn wleidyddol - yn ein hatgoffa ein hunain o ddiwylliant gwerin cyfoethog ein gwlad, yn ail-gofio straeon sy'n gysylltiedig â lleoliadau penodol, yn ail-osod enwau lleoedd i flaen ein meddyliau. Mae Abell a'i baentiadau yn ein gosod ni yn hyderus yng Nghymru ac o Gymru

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TEN CARDIFF AND NATIONAL TRUST DINEFWR CO-PRESENT AN EXHIBITION OF LANDSCAPE-INSPIRED PAINTINGS BY JOHN ABELL, A TRUE CELEBRATION OF CYMRU’S LAND AND LEGEND - WITH A SPECIAL LAUNCH TO COINCIDE WITH LLANDEILO LITERATURE FESTIVAL

The Welsh proverb "Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed" describes the feeling of returning to a balanced state of mind and reconnecting with the natural world to find mental and emotional well-being. It stands for a deep connection to the environment, where trees symbolise memory, ancestry, and belonging; a sanctuary for healing and renewal.

This collection of paintings grew out of a journey across the landscape of the Bannau Brycheiniog, from the east to the west. In the summer of 2025, artist John Abell spent time wild camping and walking through these hills, immersing himself in the folk history, language and landscape of a place he has known all his life. These paintings share his vision of the wild places of South Wales.

Folklore and mythology are integral themes woven through Abell’s work, which is seeped in wild Gothicism, often erring towards the fantastical and apocalyptic. His interest in the literature, folk history and poetry of Cymru walk hand-in-hand with his lived experience of the landscape. This isn’t picturesque painting by a visiting artist, here we see clear knowledge and obvious familiarity with the topography of this country, born from a spiritual connection forged through hours of sublime immersion and miles of hiking through the land.

Abell’s paintings are poetic and otherworldly, bold and brimming with pattern in flowing repetition. Merging landscape with narrative, these works explore the folkloric identity of specific locales, drawing from rich and ancient sources such as pagan myths, early Christian narratives, and the many branches of the Mabinogi.

There is innate timeless history in the landscape and Abell taps into it. His  paintings are simultaneously historical and futuristic, with his arresting visual language and distinctive motifs washing over us with immersive, fervent energy. At it’s core, the art is the work of a proud Cymro who is exploring and researching his land and language, reaching for a deeper knowing and owning of his country and culture. These paintings are political acts - reminding ourselves of our country’s rich folk culture, re-remembering the tales tied to locations, re-instating places names to the forefront of our minds. Abell and his paintings proudly places us in and of Cymru.

Meg Anthony, General Manager for Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, National Trust Cymru says, “We’re thrilled to welcome artist John Abell back to Dinefwr, following the success of his artist residency and exhibition here in 2019. John’s work describes the very landscape of the near horizon; Bannau Brycheiniog is ever present at Dinefwr. Deeply rooted in the ancient history of Wales, Dinefwr’s trees, castle, princes, kingdoms, beauty, myth and wilderness are here in abundance. John’s work has the energy to hold both the ambition and the scale of the house, and an elusive, untamed spirit of Wales, encapsulated at Dinefwr. His work celebrates stories both familiar and those untold, through a profound journey of discovery of place, history, self and the vitality of life. I’d like to congratulate John Abell as well as thank Gallery TEN for sharing this remarkable body of work with us.”

‘Mae fy ngwaith yn ymwneud â phaentio trwy dirwedd Cymru a'm mherthynas â hi, a'r hyn y gallaf ei ddweud am draddodiad peintio tirwedd Cymru.

Pwt o farddoniaeth sydd yn hoff iawn i mi yw:

‘Mae’r Byd yn fwy na Chymru

Rwy’n gwybod hynny nawr

Ond diolch byth fod Cymru fach 

Yn rhan o fyd mor fawr’ - Niclas Y Glais

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My work is about painting through the Welsh landscape and my relationship with it, and what I can say about the Welsh landscape painting tradition.

A piece of poetry that I really like is:

[translated]

'The world is more than Cymru

I understand this now

But thanks that little old Wales

Is part of a world so vast' - Niclas Y Glais ‘

- John Abell

Ganwyd John Abell [g.1986] yng Nghaerdydd ac astudiodd yng Ngholeg Celf Camberwell, Llundain ac mae'n byw ac yn gweithio yng Nghymoedd De Cymru. Mae llên gwerin a mytholeg yn themâu annatod sy'n cael eu plethu drwy waith John, a hynny wedi'u seilio yn gadarn ar ei gariad at ddiwylliant a thirwedd Cymru. Mae ei waith, sy’n cynnwys peintio a printiau, yn ffantastig ac yn apocalyptaidd, wedi'i gweithio’n ddwys ac wedi'i drwytho yn ei ddiddordebau mewn llenyddiaeth, hanes a barddoniaeth. Mae John yn arbennig o adnabyddus am ei brintiau bloc pren monocrom ar raddfa fawr a'i baentio haniaethol ystumiol lliwgar. Mae ei arddull a'i ddull o wneud marciau - greddfol, geometrig a myfyriol - yn trosgwlyddo’n gyfartal o un cyfrwng i’r llall

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Cardiff-born John Abell [b.1986] studied at Camberwell College of Art, London and currently lives and works in the South Wales Valleys. Folklore and mythology are integral themes woven through John’s work, underlined by his love of Welsh culture and the landscape of Cymru. His work, across painting and printmaking, is fantastical and apocalyptic, densely packed and seeped in his interests in literature, history and poetry. John is particularly known for his large-scale monochrome wood block prints and intensely colourful gestural abstract painting. His style and method of mark-making - intuitive, geometric and meditative - translate equally to both mediums

Prints and publications are held in private and public collections worldwide including the V&A, the National Museum of Wales, the British Museum, the National Library of Australia in Canberra, the National Library of Canada in Ottawa and Columbia University Library in New York.

ARDDANGOSFEYDD UNIGOL • SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026 Un Nos Ola Leuad, TEN, Caerdydd

2025 Cariadon Y Mynydd, Arusha Gallery, London

2022 The Foretold Sun, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh

2021 Through Great Waters, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh

2020 Rebecca and Her Children, Newton House, Dinefwr

2019 Don Quixote Goes West, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh

2018 The Garden Enclosed, TEN, Cardiff

2017 Lost Conquistadors and Other Works, Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen

2016 Three Act Play, Gallery Ten, Cardiff

2015 Printmaker In Focus, Oriel Wrecsam, Wrexham

The Horse With The Human Heart, Oriel Mwldan, Cardigan

2014 Vena Cava, Arcade Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales

2013 Exile All The Longer, Looking Glass, Bristol

2011 Permission To See Freely, The Emporium, Bristol

2009 White Lies and Crocodile Tears, Elysium Gallery, Swansea

Argymellion darllen a gwrando wedi'u dewis a'u llunio gan yr artist John abell + TEN i drochi’n ddyfnach i'r arddangosfa

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Handpicked reading and listening selections compiled by the artist John Abell + TEN to dive deeper into the exhibition

Spotify playlist >>> https://shorturl.at/I5kT8

Reading >>>

• Raymond Williams - People Of the Black Mountains 1 + 2

• Edward Abbey - Desert Solitaire

• Nan Shepherd - The Living Mountain

• Menna Elfyn - Dod i’w Coed

• Gerallt Lloyd Owen - Etifeddiaeth

Selected by staff at Dinefwr NT:

• Matthew Yeomans - Return to My Trees: Notes from the Welsh Woodlands

• Horatio Clare - Brecon Beacon Myths and Legends: 1

• Carwyn Graves - Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape

• Tom Bullough - Sarn Helen: A Journey Through Wales, Past, Present and Future

• Russ Williams - Where the Folk: A Welsh Folklore Road Trip

Artworks can be purchased online or by contacting the gallery:

info@gallery-ten.co.uk  |  029 2060 0495

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