Kris Mercer – Nottinghamshire Artist Exploring Landscape, Distance & Perspective
Artist & Practice
The Aerial View
I’m a contemporary British painter based in Nottinghamshire. I create aerial landscapes, both rural and urban, and seascapes that explore space, distance and perspective. Using photographic reference as a starting point, I rework each scene through colour and composition, distilling it into a more pared-back, graphic view.
The Instinct to Step Back
Whether painting the patchwork geometry of farmland seen from above or the quiet sweep of sea meeting sky, my work is shaped by an instinct to step back — to see the wider view. Much of it is constructed from an interior vantage point, translating the experience of openness through colour, structure and light.
Balancing Stillness and Energy
Across all series, shapes and colour are the binding force. I lean into intuitive, sometimes bold choices to evoke mood and movement, balancing stillness with energy and structure with spontaneity.
A Moment of Perspective
Though the subjects vary, the intention remains consistent: to create a pause — a moment of perspective — in which both I and the viewer can step back and reconnect with a wider view.
Global Reach
My work is held in private collections across the UK and internationally, including the United States, Europe, and Australia.
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My Journey
A Change of Direction
I returned to education as a mature student, studying Art and Design at Mansfield College of Art. After completing my BTEC with distinction, I was offered a degree place in Derby but instead moved to Cyprus with my twin daughters.
That decision unexpectedly shaped the direction my painting would eventually take. Regular flights between Cyprus and the UK gave me repeated views of coastlines, farmland and cities from the air. I became fascinated by how completely familiar places changed when seen from above.
A Perspective That Stayed With Me
I returned to the UK in 2000, but that aerial perspective stayed with me. It took many years before it became a significant part of my painting, yet when it did, it felt less like discovering a new subject and more like recognising something that had been there all along.
A long-term back problem has also changed the way I experience landscape. Exploring places on foot is not always practical, whereas travelling by car or aircraft gives me access to views I might otherwise never see. The aircraft window in particular offers something quite different: enormous stretches of landscape seen without the physical demands of moving through them.
Back in the Studio
Those experiences now feed directly into the work I make in my Nottinghamshire studio. I use my own photographs and observations as starting points, selecting, simplifying and reshaping what I have seen rather than reproducing a scene exactly.
Painting has become another way of travelling through those places — returning to a view, studying its structure and finding what remains when unnecessary detail is stripped away.
EXHIBITIONS & AWARDS
2026
Shortlist – London Art Collective
ArtEvol 2026: A View from Everywhere
Mansfield Museum – 4th April – 27th June
2025
Open Studio Notts
Longlisted – VAA, Artist of the Year Award
2024
Dame Catherine Arts Summer Exhibition
DCArts prize, shortlisted – Best in show
Longlisted – VAA, Artist of the Year Award
2023
Bringing Artists into View – Worksop Library,
Open Studio Notts
Longlisted – VAA, Visual Art Open
2019
Cityscapes, London And Beyond
Lumi Arts
2018
The Artist Collection
Patchings Gallery.
2017
Clairefontaine Award – The Artist Open
The Artist exhibition Award – The Artist Open
Charlfred Gallery, London
ING Discerning eye, Mall galleries, London
Thoresby gallery 21st Open
Open Studios Notts
Patchings Exhibition “The Artist”
2016
Derwent Award – The Artist Open
Focus Gallery Nottingham
Open Studios Notts
Patchings Exhibition “The Artist”
2015
Solo exhibition – The Gherkin, Hosted by Swiss Re in support of Alzeimers society
Patchings Exhibition “The Artist”
Rufford Courtyard Gallery,
Open Studios Notts
2014
Thoresby Gallery 101
Patchings Exhibition “The Artist”
Thoresby Gallery open
Longlisted for National Open Art (NOA
2013
Outside In: Central exhibition at Compton Verney. Artwork featured
Thoresby Gallery open
2012
Patchings Exhibition “The Artist”
The Harley Gallery Exhibition, ‘H is for…’,
2011
Guardian London Lives Competition. Bankside Gallery
One of my aerial landscape paintings features on the cover of
Ghosts Of The Farm, by Nicola Chester.
