In early 2024, Seyb’s daughter bought him a year-long gondola pass, enabling an artistic adventure that continued into early 2025. With a pack full of paints and brushes, and a travelling case for the canvas, he would seek out a slope or rocky outcrop to give himself space to look, and paint. Or walk for an hour along a track to a remote new viewpoint of familiar places.
‘I had no preconceived idea of what I would do. I was looking for a kind of ideal – a oneness with nature. I didn’t take long to find it… the place, the light, everything I see is vital.’
The exhibition From the Gondola brings together a selection of the high-energy paintings from that year-long journey. Of necessity, he couldn’t take large canvasses, so this exhibition is anchored by the earlier, glorious Port Hills, Charteris Bay – plus a vigorous homage to Vincent Van Gogh, long an inspiration.