Iwan Lloyd Roberts is a 24-year-old artist from Pwllheli. He is influenced by the Northern Renaissance, Medieval art and 19th century paintings and tries to make images that assist in introspection.
For three years he studied illustration at the University of Cumbria (Carlisle,) graduating in the winter of 2023. During this time, he developed an obsession with oil painting and completed over a hundred pieces of work inspired by ideas of human nature, cyclical history, medievalism and his connection with Wales.
This latest collection of work reflects on the way of life that so many of us are leading. At the break of every dawn, although we are not officially at war, we awaken deep within the trenches. Though we rarely have the eyes or the will to see it, we are fighting in a battle which has raged ceaselessly within our minds and souls since the early days of the world, and it seems to have no end in sight. There is no sanctuary to be found by burying ourselves in the crevices of the past and future, but by convincing ourselves that history was at its end, we were lured into a mirage of comfort. It is only in the midst of this combat, once the illusion has been broken, that one is able to realise themselves, the true battle for their humanity, and find that they are still alive on the bleeding edge of something that they will never be able to entirely fathom.
THE WORK: ‘Y Dyn Crog a’r Diafol’
These artworks are the symbolic crossroads our people find themselves in. Drawing inspiration in both composition and theme from earlier Welsh artistic traditions which depict a people beset by dramatic issues, both physical and spiritual. These artworks reward patiently digesting the symbolism.