Artist Anthony Shapland has opened a solo exhibition titled "Liar Liar" at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, just one month after the publication of his debut novel, "A Room Above a Shop." The show spans twenty years of his practice, featuring works in text, sculpture, books, print, audio, and film, with the earliest piece dating from 2005 and the most recent created within the last month. The exhibition blurs the lines between writing and visual art, drawing on hidden filmmaking techniques such as props, filters, light, and sound, while also exploring themes of rural queerness, passing, and the malleability of landscape. Key works include the films "A Setting" (2007), "A Sign," "FiftytwoSundays" (2018), "Between the Dog and the Wolf" (2019), "Centre A Sound not Meant to be Heard," and the new montage "Seven Starling" (2025).
The exhibition matters because it offers a rare, comprehensive view of a Welsh artist's two-decade evolution, connecting his literary and visual practices in a single space. By foregrounding themes of illusion, queer identity, and the constructed nature of both landscape and narrative, Shapland's work contributes to ongoing conversations about rural queer experience and the intersection of art and writing. The show also highlights the role of regional arts centres like Aberystwyth in presenting ambitious, conceptually layered work that might otherwise be overlooked by larger metropolitan institutions.