Mountford’s pieces combine two very contrasting subjects, the human form (and often) architectural or a natrual setting.
His pieces convey a personality or an attitude of the subject used; I would interpret the in the piece below as having a delicate and melancholic demina, which is conveyed in the sepia and dark shades of the face of the church architecture and hisvacant expression. But his pieces are very much down to interpretation and provoke thought due to frequent juxt a positions of subjects.
Mountford was discovered as an artist while studying in Brighton, it is obvious that the setting was a source of inspiration to him as a number of his designs are inspired and feature scenes of Brighton which do seem to capture an essence of Brighton’s atmosphere…
I think that Mountford’s work is so visually effective because of it simplicity. Practically just combining a landscape with a portrait to create something which offers a tone or atmosphere through the combination of the artificial (achitecture, or man-made subjects) and the natural (humans).
He achieves something which is cutting edge yet posesses an undertone of fragility, again which is open to interpretation of the on-looker, whether they see it as dark or beautiful.
The beautiful, The ugly and l' étrange. 