View source for Alan Rankle

{{Short description|British artist}}
{{redirect|Rankle|the protein|RANKL}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Alan Rankle
| image =Alan Rankle.jpg
| caption = 
| birth_name = Alan Rankle
| birth_date = 1952
| birth_place = [[Oldham]], United Kingdom
| religion = 
| field = Painting
| training = Rochdale School of Art, Goldsmiths, University of London
| movement =
| works = 
| death_date = 
}}

'''Alan Rankle''' (born 1952 in [[Oldham]], England) is a British artist and is part of the duo Rankle & Reynolds. {{citation needed|date=January 2018}} During a thirty-year career he has worked primarily as a painter. He explores social and [[environmental issue]]s of the day through Landscape Art.

==Background==
Rankle was born in [[Oldham]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]] in 1952 and studied at Rochdale School of Art (1968–70) and [[Goldsmiths', University of London]] (1970–73). {{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

From 1973 feeling that his work, while well informed by [[conceptual art]] practice, lacked a realistic visceral dimension, he immersed himself in a study of the techniques of 17th century Dutch masters, the [[Abstract Expressionists]] and significantly the [[Chan Buddhism|Chan]] painters and calligraphers of China. During 1973–76 he studied [[Taoist]] and Chan Buddhist Arts, including [[tai chi]], with Dr. Liu Hsiu Chi. Fellow students at the Liu Academy included the musician [[Francis Monkman]] and [[Fritjof Capra]] author of 'The Tao of Physics.' During this time Rankle's pursuit of his interests in [[Old Master]] painting led him to further studies and later employment in the field of [[art conservation]]. {{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

His first exhibition, held at the [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]], London, was a multi-media performance/installation based on  [[Chaucer]]'s ''The Pardonner's Tale'' (1973).

Rankle takes as his main subject the development of landscape art as a concept related to changes in attitude to the environment. In some works he treats the entire history of [[landscape painting]] almost as a [[found object]]; manipulating and cross-referencing styles and techniques from diverse periods and cultures, within a [[post-modernist]] fusion of [[abstract art|abstract]], ''[[trompe-l'œil]]'' and figurative imagery. In "Landscapes for the North" Maidstone Museum 1996 he states: "Styles are emblems of the ways we can shift our attention".{{cite quote|date=January 2016}}

Examples of his paintings are in the collections of several Lancashire museums and [[Hastings Museum and Art Gallery]].<ref>{{Art UK bio|retrieved=20 January 2016}}</ref>

==Environmental concerns==
[[File:Bargainbuddhaatchaddert.jpg|thumb|200px|Bargain Buddha at Chadderton Asda
oils on canvas,
100x80&nbsp;cm;
2009;
Private collection Denmark]]
Following a group exhibition at LYC Gallery in Cumbria, with [[Andy Goldsworthy]] and Michael Jepson; Rankle's work in landscape art became starkly politicised. In the summer of 1982 on his first trip to [[Finland]] he became aware of the effects of [[acid rain]] on the lakes and forests of [[Scandinavia]], and the patently inadequate response of the establishment. A series of landmark installation/performance pieces followed intended to draw attention to environmental issues (often as fund raising events for Arts for the Earth, the art 'wing' of [[Friends of the Earth]]). These included a 30&nbsp;metre long scroll painting produced on the top of [[Beachy Head]] in Sussex with his collaborator Jan Stephens, and several notable pieces with the left-field artists group Order out of Chaos; one of which 'Discarded Sculptures' (1986) was the first project to bring his work to the attention of a wider public.

==Earthscape==
[[File:Furthertalesalongthehud.jpg|thumb|200px|Running from the House
oils on canvas,
80x100&nbsp;cm;
2008/9]]
A period of activism in which he attempted to work within the existing mores of the conventional art world culminated in 'Earthscape' (1991), a large scale performance/installation created in the form of an International Competition on a theme of 'Environmental Solutions' where artists such as Andrew Bick and Luke Elwes were invited to submit works implying a positive response to the burgeoning environmental crisis. Curated with Christine Goldschmidt for the Hastings Trust, this project involved a wide range of collaborators including Mike von Joel, [[Laetitia Yhap]], [[Andrew Graham-Dixon]] (who were the judges of the competition), [[Art in Ruins]], Lynne Green, Nick Wates and the book and exhibition designer Jeremy Brook.

==Recent work==

Since his 1993 exhibition 'Riverfall & Other Works' at Southampton Art Gallery, Rankle has concentrated on painting, with notable exhibitions at Maidstone Museum; Radicev Museum, Saratov, 1996; Danielle Arnaud/Clink Wharf Gallery, 1998; Folkestone Museum, 1999; as well as numerous gallery shows in Europe, Scandinavia and the USA.

A first retrospective exhibition, 'Landscapes for the Turning Earth', was held at Gallery Oldham 2006-07.

A second retrospective, "Selected Works 1993–2009", at Fondazione Stelline, in Milan during February and March 2010, also featured a major collaborative work with the installation artist Kirsten Reynolds entitled "On the Edge of Wrong".

==Sources==
*Anthony Wallersteiner 'Alan Rankle:Terre Verte' Danielle Arnaud/Riverfall Press 1998
*[[Laurence Bristow-Smith]] 'Alan Rankle:Landscapes for the Turning Earth, Paintings 1986–2006' Gallery Oldham 2006
*Roger Woods 'Alan Rankle at Southampton Art Gallery' Art-Line International, Winter 1993
*Imy Antal 'Alan Rankle: Light + Meaning' Galleria Seriola, Finland, 2006
*Emanuelle Beluffi 'Alan Rankle & Kirsten Reynolds:On the Edge of Wrong' First Gallery/Italian Factory 2010

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.alanrankle.co.uk Official website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankle, Alan}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:People from Oldham]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British painters]]
[[Category:British male painters]]
[[Category:British contemporary artists]]
[[Category:British landscape artists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London]]
[[Category:Conservator-restorers]]