A long motorway drive can be a hellish experience, particularly with heavy traffic or a breakdown, but when the route is clear they can be dream expressways.
Since the M1 opened in 1959, motorways have inspired musicians and film-makers, but rarely artists.
Now, Manchester-based Jen Orpin has bucked that trend with her atmospheric studies of motorway bridges, which, after the first was displayed in 2018, now number more than 600.
‘We’ll Cross That Bridge’ by artist Jen Orpin, who finds inspiration in motorway bridges
Last year, two bridge pieces were accepted for the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, and Jen had her first international show this May, at the Art Busan in Seoul, South Korea.
The dramatic series of works was inspired by a regular road trip over three months in 2015 to visit her father in hospital following his stroke.
“Every Monday I’d head down from Manchester to Surrey via the M56, M6, M42, M40 and M25, then return on Friday,” she recalls.
‘On Thin Ice’ is one of the night-time studies that has followed Jen’s bridge paintings
