Exhibition: Nick Du Boulay - Elemental Monkey Opens

Our exhibition is bringing together the Chinese zodiac with this year, the year of The Monkey and the five Chinese Elements of life; Fire, Wood, Water, Earth and Metal.

Everyone and everything must interact with these Elements. Each element is associated with one of the planets in our solar system. Fire is paired with Mars; Wood is paired with Jupiter; Water is paired with Mercury; Earth is paired with Saturn and Metal is paired with Venus.

There are relationships between each of these Chinese Elements as each have a beneficial relationship, a destructive relationship and a hostile relationship with each other.

The good thing is that most people like monkeys which ranks ninth of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. Each year is related to an animal sign according to a 12-year-cycle.

So it is with this in mind that I bring you my interpretation of those elements and as I try and truly see the world in front without anticipating what the camera will capture. Within all that we see there is beauty in the juxtaposition of chaos and order within nature.

I am inspired by the contrast of beauty confined by its structure, with the boundless freedom of the sublime. A manmade ruin beneath a windy, stormy sky. The tranquil symmetry of falling water into the turbulence of a whirlpool.

By working with light and shadow, obscure angles and perspective, I hope to capture a unique image that invites you on a journey through the mundane to the sacred and maybe showing the way to the Elemental Monkey.

all work is for sale by the artist - please call 0771 772 4860 or email