New exhibition draws lines between Covid battle and the experience of medics in First World War

Almost a century after Stanley Spencer began work on a chapel to honour the soldiers of the First World War, the artist Geraint Ross Evans was invited to Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, South Wales, to record the work of medics and other staff.

His sketches cover a time when the hospital was dealing not only with the usual medical needs of its patients, but also the extra demands brought about by the coronavirus epidemic.

Geraint was inspired by Stanley’s work on view at Sandham Memorial Chapel and has used similar techniques to draw complex images.

He said: “When I was in sixth form we were taught about the war artists and to me, Stanley Spencer just shone out. His work was visionary and imaginative, not simple reportage. I’m particularly interested in putting lots of views into a single image – that’s what Spencer’s big mural painting does.”

Geraint’s work includes drawings of patients receiving treatment, and nurses going about their duties and are a modern-day response to the art Stanley Spencer created after working as a medical orderly and then serving as a soldier during the First World War.

He has also sketched some of Stanley’s murals at Sandham Memorial Chapel, bringing a new understanding about how the striking images were created. Evans says “In sketching Spencer’s work, I feel I’m having a conversation with him as an artist…It gives me a really good insight into how Spencer made his paintings. So, the drawings I make are my link with Spencer.”

Stanley’s use of perspective and unusual viewpoints has directly inspired one of Geraint’s pieces. In ‘Map Reading’, Stanley shows an army officer contemplating a map of the Salonika area of Greece, his soldiers placed around the sides. In his companion piece, ‘Map for the Territory’, Geraint’s shows a plan of his home city of Cardiff, surrounded by local people.

He said: “Spencer is incredible at putting you in the crowd. He has a very, very special way of working and I’ve been pillaging that technique ever since.”

Like Stanley, Geraint does not look to celebrate leaders and bosses. He added: “A lot of my work includes people looking for pathways towards a better future, for example litter pickers and volunteer groups. I’m interested in people who are looking to create heaven on Earth. Spencer did that too – he sets heaven in the everyday world, not fluffy clouds. He celebrates the work real people are doing.”

The exhibition will be on display at Sandham Memorial Chapel from June 11 to September 25.

Normal admission charges apply, free for National Trust members.