Anyone could easily mistake these intriguing images as blurred photographs of city life on a summer’s day. They are in fact beautiful oil paintings, which form part of a series entitled The City by South African artist Philip Barlow.

Speaking of his work, Philip 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 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.

"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 currently lives and paints in Riebeek Kasteel, near Cape Town. He is married and has two children and two dogs. You can discover more of his stunning work at www.philipbarlow.com.