‘Roundhay Road Reverie’ reflects on the layered histories of urban places, where past and present coexist. Inspired by a familiar Leeds street and its forgotten tramway, the painting shows silhouetted figures walking along tracks that dissolve into the textured ground. Their forms are held between the solid presence of a nearby building and a vibrant, atmospheric sky. As part of Andrew Bowers’ continuing practice, the work explores how memory and the changing character of a city can be held within a single, layered image.
Illustrative interior visualisations showing how the artwork may appear within a residential or gallery setting. Scale and surroundings are indicative only.
About this artwork
Background to the work, materials and process, series context and collector notes.
This acrylic painting, 'Roundhay Road Reverie', considers how the past remains embedded in familiar places. The work is inspired by Roundhay Road in Leeds, viewed through the lens of its history as a tram route. Abstracted figures walk along tracks beneath a sky of intense, warm light, their journey set against the dark shape of a building. Andrew Bowers uses this scene to explore the character of a changing city, where the structures of one generation become the memories of the next.
The inspiration for this work began with an archival image of the tramways that once defined Roundhay Road in Leeds. The painting is a response to the changing character of the city, exploring how streets are continually reshaped by successive generations. It considers the idea of landscape as a document of time, where past infrastructures become faint reveries in the present day. In his practice, Andrew Bowers often returns to these themes of memory and the enduring, often subtle, traces of history within a place.
The painting was developed through a process of layering acrylic paint to build up a textured, atmospheric surface. Initial compositional lines were established to create the strong perspective of the tracks, which were then worked over and partially obscured. The figurative elements and the building were kept dark and suggestive, allowing them to sit within the landscape without dominating it. The final surface holds a tension between the structured, linear elements and the more expressive, blended colours of the sky.
'Roundhay Road Reverie' is an acrylic painting created in 2026. The work was painted on Arches 300gsm fine art paper, which has been mounted to a birch plywood panel for stability and presence. The dimensions of the piece are 30.5 × 30.5 cm. The artwork is currently unframed, allowing a collector to choose a presentation style that best suits their interior.
The painting's atmosphere is defined by the strong contrast between the cool, dark tones of the ground and the vibrant warmth of the sky. The foreground is rendered in deep, restrained blues, grounding the composition and evoking a sense of twilight or memory. Above, the sky shifts from an intense pink and orange into a bright, hopeful yellow. This dramatic use of colour creates a powerful emotional register, suggesting a space that is at once melancholic and illuminated.
While much of Andrew Bowers’ practice is rooted in rural and edgeland landscapes, this work translates his core themes into an urban setting. It continues the artist's ongoing enquiry into memory, structure, and the subtle divisions that shape our experience of a place. Like other works in his portfolio, it considers how the past persists and how human presence is recorded. Here, the focus shifts from walls and pathways to the ghost of tram lines, exploring a different kind of embedded history.
This work’s compact size and striking palette make it well-suited to a study, library, or a quiet reading corner where it can be viewed more closely. The vibrant sky, with its warm yellows and pinks, would be brought to life by soft, indirect lighting. It would sit well against both neutral, calming wall colours and more saturated, darker tones which would complement the deep blues in the foreground.
This is a work that holds a quiet narrative. With sustained looking, the relationship between the figures and their surroundings deepens, and the textured surface reveals its layered history. The painting rewards a slower, more personal reading, offering a sense of connection to the rhythms of a city and the passage of time. It is a piece that carries both a specific sense of place and a more universal feeling of reflection.