Philip Barlow is an artist from Cape Town, South Africa. His latest paintings depict out-of-focus cityscapes at night, capturing the twinkling blurry beads of light.

The artist titled the series with one word – “Night.” His collection is all about “out-of-focus” snaps of city scenes confetti-like blurry effect. This effect is popularly called bokeh in photography.

Resembling the photographic effect, bokeh, Barlow celebrates “light” as his main subject.

Bokeh is all about creating an aesthetic quality similar to that of a slightly out-of-focus camera. It also captures a fairly lifelike representation of the kind of vision possessed by those who suffer from near-sightedness and astigmatism.

Barlow showcases another way on how we process our surroundings.

The blurred paintings combine the lights from street lamps, cars, store windows, and other city light sources.

Barlow said:

“Although I work within a long tradition of landscape painting … my depiction of the ‘seen’ landscape is simply a vehicle through which I navigate the territory of another nature. A landscape less ordinary; where the line between the physical and the spiritual realm has seemingly been removed. However, these scenarios are not intended to be of a surreal nature. Hopefully, they will seem curiously familiar and convincingly real.”

Barlow shared that he first uses a camera to get the images, and then paints the subjects in his personal style.

“The figures in the landscape serve as carriers and reflectors of the light that falls upon them … Bathed in the luminosity, it is my hope that they would become more beautiful. To me, light is the ultimate subject because it embodies the pinnacle of all reality.”

Philip Barlow has a lot of followers on Instagram and his work has been showcased in galleries to critical acclaim. Visit his website to discover more of his amazing work.