For his exhibition at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco (29 May - 9 August 2025), Richard Learoyd worked with Factum Arte's Amanda Blázquez and Marina Luchetti to make several images of trees taken near Lacock Abbey.

By printing on Belgian linen, washing the surface, applying thin layers of gesso and reprinting, the result inhabits a space between painting and pictorialist photography. The images are large scale and powerful but refer back to the time when William Fox Talbot was developing photography at Lacock Abbey. He called his invention the ‘pencil of nature’. It’s a description that fits Richard Learoyd’s new creations.