Liane Lang
Time and Tide, 2026
Thames Foreshore Historic Roof Tiles
Mixed media
Mixed media
150 x 140 cm
59 x 55 1/8 in
59 x 55 1/8 in
Copyright The Artist
Further images
Time and Tide Liane Lang RA 2025/2026 85 roof tiles Pigment ink transfers, acrylic paint, Winsor and Newton acrylic uv varnish The images fall into the following groups: The Thames...
Time and Tide
Liane Lang RA
2025/2026
85 roof tiles
Pigment ink transfers, acrylic paint, Winsor and Newton acrylic uv varnish
The images fall into the following groups:
The Thames photographed from the Foreshore at different points including the foreshore walls at low tide, the Shard, bridge piers, the foreshore ground at low tide showing the tiles and other rocks and debris, including old stumps from ancient pier supports. The walls of the foreshore show enigmatic installations of pipes and chains now out of use but remaining in place, greened by algae. The images of statues are several of Father Thames found along the river at different locations, a small figure from the Crimean memorial, Florence Nightingale, Edith Cavell and the small Victoria monument with the head of Jeffrey Chaucer whose work begot the expression ‘time and tide waits for no man’. There are references here to the fire and to the bodies in the Thames, to music, to effluent. Central to the work is a tile showing a riverbed formed in the Thames’ riverbed by another river flowing into it. there is an image of the concrete barges, abandoned boats and the naked feet of a historic mudlark, maybe feeling the river bed for lumps of coal.
The work was made during a long period of recovery, when I was only able to work on small pieces. I wanted to echo the history of London as seen through the Thames and the passing of centuries as recorded in the uneven washing, smoothing and breaking of the tiles. The tiles are all uniquely shaped and apparently made by hand, the holes made sometimes by a finger, which occasionally leaves a print. A small proof of a life in a city that has housed so many millions.
Liane Lang RA
2025/2026
85 roof tiles
Pigment ink transfers, acrylic paint, Winsor and Newton acrylic uv varnish
The images fall into the following groups:
The Thames photographed from the Foreshore at different points including the foreshore walls at low tide, the Shard, bridge piers, the foreshore ground at low tide showing the tiles and other rocks and debris, including old stumps from ancient pier supports. The walls of the foreshore show enigmatic installations of pipes and chains now out of use but remaining in place, greened by algae. The images of statues are several of Father Thames found along the river at different locations, a small figure from the Crimean memorial, Florence Nightingale, Edith Cavell and the small Victoria monument with the head of Jeffrey Chaucer whose work begot the expression ‘time and tide waits for no man’. There are references here to the fire and to the bodies in the Thames, to music, to effluent. Central to the work is a tile showing a riverbed formed in the Thames’ riverbed by another river flowing into it. there is an image of the concrete barges, abandoned boats and the naked feet of a historic mudlark, maybe feeling the river bed for lumps of coal.
The work was made during a long period of recovery, when I was only able to work on small pieces. I wanted to echo the history of London as seen through the Thames and the passing of centuries as recorded in the uneven washing, smoothing and breaking of the tiles. The tiles are all uniquely shaped and apparently made by hand, the holes made sometimes by a finger, which occasionally leaves a print. A small proof of a life in a city that has housed so many millions.