Best in show: Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

“A prolific artist for over half a century, highly regarded by his peers and with works in numerous public collections, William Tillyer could possibly be the most famous painter of whom you have never heard.

He’s even largely unknown in his hometown of Middlesbrough and our exhibition has been designed to make people aware of the living treasure in their own backyard.

Tillyer draws inspiration for his work from the British landscape tradition and modernism. His relatively low profile could be down to the amount of time that he still spends in his studio each day, leaving little opportunity to be out and about promoting himself in the way that some other artists do.

Another reason could be the sheer variety of his ever-changing output. There’s an incredible range of materials and styles on show here – paintings, sculptures, drawings, conceptual pieces – but there is a consistency of thought running through them all.

The exhibition includes a Mima commission, a huge digitally manipulated watercolour created in collaboration with his son and inspired by Teesside’s High Force waterfall.

This piece comes from a series of etchings and prints which explored the concept of the manmade being just as intrinsic a part of the landscape as natural elements such as rocks, trees and streams.

At first glance, it looks as though the scene has had a grid superimposed on it but you then notice the image is actually made up from the grid form, the light and shade produced by the technique of allowing acid to bite deeper into some areas of the etching plate than others.

When you pull away from the picture, an almost photographic image begins to appear.

This grid format became a theme for the following 40 years of Tillyer’s work. In a way, he was following on from the great printmakers and etchers such as Rembrandt, who used cross-hatching to suggest texture and detail in surfaces.

It took on a really symbolic meaning for him, however, and he later completed a series of wirework pieces where he painted directly on to mesh fencing.

His latest work is on a plastic-coated fabric mesh and he pushes the paint through from the rear so the image is made from the back rather than the front, similar to some mono-printing techniques.

The image in this picture reflects his interest in modernist architecture. Indeed, one of the reasons he moved back to the North York Moors after some time away was a desire to build himself a modernist room with a view.

Tillyer has, unfortunately, been fighting with the planning authorities ever since. He hasn’t managed to build his dream house yet but he’s determined to succeed in the end.”

James Beighton is a senior curator at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (Mima)

William Tillyer: Against Nature runs until 9 February at Mima