Open during the cafe's opening hours

A retrospective of John Duffin’s work will open at Southwark Cathedral, bringing together etchings and paintings that depict the urban environment of London which has been his subject for the past 30 years. Duffin trained as a Draughtsman and Naval Architect, then went on to study Fine Art at Goldsmiths’ College London alongside the YBAs (Young British Artists); his approach to urban imagery is distilled from this diverse background.

Duffin’s prints are the product of laborious drawings made in the city of London, usually with a 2B pencil on scraps of paper. The places chosen are those that have great personal significance – sites of meetings and departures, good and bad memories, old friendships and lost times. He says, “Life experience is what I am really after in my prints and paintings. I want to convey the mood, atmosphere and sensation of what that place and time was and is to me now. These train stations, tube platforms and public buildings of London have been witnesses and advocates in my life. When working on places as subjects, all of that life experience plays a part in the making of the image.”

In the studio he draws on his previous experience of working as a Naval Architect to distort the perspective and convey, “Not only what I saw but also more importantly what I felt.” The black and white images have a dark waxiness reminiscent of a film still – the elongated shadows and glowing architecture evoke the cinematography of film noir. He states that, “The figures in my work always arrive at the end of the composition, they give meaning and resonance to the spaces. I deliberate for weeks on the placing of a lone figure, a cast shadow or wet reflection. Every mark has to be just right to make the composition act on the viewer’s psyche as the original location acted upon mine.”

All artworks are for sale. Please speak to a member of staff in the Cathedral Shop to arrange payment and collection. If the Shop is closed, please email arts.cathedral@southwark.anglican.org