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TOWN AND COUNTRY
Rural and Urban Landscapes of Scotland 5th May - 10th June 2016
Published by scotlandart.com galleries, registed trading name of The Emerging Artists' Partnership, Ltd. scotlandart.com galleries, 193 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HU www.scotlandart.com
First published by scotlandart.com galleries, May 2016 Text written by and copyright of Sam Reilly, 2016, except where artist quotation is indicated. Images remain copyright of the artists, unless otherwise credited. Cover images: (31) Gavin Weir, 'Central Station'; (12) Shazia Mahmood, 'Elgol' Top: (14) Shazia Mahmood, 'Rhum' Left: (22) Dronma, 'Sango Bay/Durness' Right: (40) Ronnie Russell, 'Calm Waters, Pittenweem Harbour' Bottom Right: (28) Thomas Cameron, 'No Ball Games' [detail]
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Catalogue of Works Featured
Works featured by Shazia Mahmood Mixed Media on Canvas (1) 'Camusdarach' 90x30cm £900 (2) ‘Camusdarach II' 50x20cm £225 (3) ‘Sango Bay' 120x40cm £1,720 (4) ‘Eilean Iarmain Sunrise' 90x30cm £625 (5) ‘Glasnakille' 50x20cm £225 (6) ‘Rhum and Eigg' 90x30cm £900 (7) ‘Eigg and Muck and Canna' 77x36cm £770 (8) 'West Coast Scotland' 30x20cm £165 (9) ‘Storm' 80x40cm £1,150 (10) ‘El Capitan U.S.A sketch' £550 (11) ‘Cape Cornwall' 80x40cm £2,200 (12) ‘Elgol' 61x30cm £650 (13) ‘Loch Nevis' 61x30cm £650 (14) ‘Rhum' 100x40cm £1440 (15) ‘Durness' 90x30cm £900 (16) ‘Torrin’ 61x46cm £920 Works featured by Dronma Oil on Canvas (18) ‘St Andrews Castle 60x60cm £1,350 (19) ‘Autumn Showers' 50x50cm £980 (20) ‘Looking Back/Arisaig' 50x50cm £980 (21) ‘Clachtol Bay' 40x40cm £710 (22) 'Sango Bay/Durness' 40x40cm £710 (23) 'Spring Breeze' 40x40cm £490 Works featured by Thomas Cameron Oil on Board (24) 'Winter Morning (Glasgow)' 55x55cm £825 (25) 'Park Circus' 40x60cm £800 (26) 'Otago Street (Red Hackle)' 40x60cm £800 (27) 'Concealed Windows' ' 56x54cm £825 (28) 'No Ball Games' 33x33cm £300 Works featured by Gavin Weir Oil on Canvas (29) ‘West George Street' 100x155cm £1900 (30) 'Renfield Street' 155x100cm £1900 (31) 'North Bridge Street' 150x74cm £1800 (32) ‘Glasgow Bridge' 108x68cm £1650 (33) 'Central Station' 108x68cm £1650 (34) 'Duke of Wellington' 57x57cm £950 Works featured by Ronnie Russell Acrylic on Canvas (35) ‘Caledonian Canal, Fort Augustus' 42x42cm £350 (36) 'Whitehills near Banff ' 42x47cm £350 (37) 'Pitlochry' 40x58cm £395 (38) ‘Crail' 35x40cm £270 (39) 'Sunshine and Showers, St Andrews Castle' 42x42cm £350 (40) 'Calm Waters, Pittenweem Harbour' 38x38cm £260 Works by these artists are available to view, reserve and purchase at www.scotlandart.com Please note: Prices in this catalogue are for the exhibitions for which this catalogue was prepared. Some pieces may have sold; prices may change at a later time.
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SHAZIA MAHMOOD We are delighted with the opportunity to present the first large collection of Shazia Mahmood's work in Glasgow for a number of years. In the nineteen years the artist has practiced as a professional, her paintings have become widely celebrated as some of the most distinctive representations of the Scottish Highlands to be found anywhere. The depth and boldness of her sublime colour palette, and yet the subtlety and fluency with which these colours run into one another, is achieved by a material technique unique to Shazia - she draws in ink, before performing a secret method of chromatography to draw out the deeper colours from the ink, and finally proceeding to oils. The effect can be seen especially well, from the present collection at ScotlandArt, in 'Eigg, Muck and Canna' (below) ; the many shades of orange coruscating through the hills are reflected, and drawn into perspective, by the thick texture of the foreground surf.
(7) 'Eigg and Muck and Canna'
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Shazia writes that:
I still believe strongly that the substance ‘paint’ has become so versatile and changed so much over the years that I am still finding new techniques to express and recreate my landscapes. For me Scotland has been the choice of place because of the beyond inspiring places that exist in this extraordinary land. Capturing the extraordinary light on the landscape is my mission as a painter. Ultimately I want to show how modern day media and techniques can express these small moments of light
(4) 'Camusdarach'
Above: (15) ‘Durness’ Below: (5) ‘Glasnakille’
(8) ‘West Coast Scotland’
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(2) 'Camusdarach II'
(10) 'El Capitan USA sketch'
(16) 'Torrin'
(3) 'Sango Bay'
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(6) 'Rhum and Eigg'
(9) 'Storm'
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DRONMA Dronma was born in Glasgow, in 1947, and attended the Glasgow School of Art. Painting was always her first love, and she recalls painting alongside her father during early holidays to the far north. Her work today, collected in galleries from Vienna to Delhi, continues to involve this subject matter, and has taken the early passion to such heights it amounts to a kind of spirituality of expression. She writes of her painting as:
A feeling of being in the “now� with the elemental forces, whether they are wild or calm....a response not only to the outer scenes, but with a sense of soul responding. A kind of Celtic longing, responding to the moods of the sea, whether it is light dancing on still waters or the raging waves , and the wind driven on to the land.
(19) 'Autumn Showers'
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(21) 'Clachtol Bay'
(20) 'Looking Back Arisaig'
(23) 'Spring Breeze'
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THOMAS CAMERON "Thomas Cameron studied Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, graduating in 2014. His work explores the everyday scenes that often go unnoticed through their apparent familiarity. Thomas is particularly drawn to the urban landscape and the relationship between nature and the built environment. Film is a major influence in his work. He likens his paintings to still frames with the suggestion of a narrative, small parts of a bigger story. He currently lives and works in Glasgow." We're very pleased to welcome Thomas to ScotlandArt for the first time; through very clever use of perspective and a marked acuity for linear expression, the works of the present collection really do transform scenes in Glasgow we may have walked past a thousand times, yet never truly seen.
(26) 'Otago Street [Red Hackle]'
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Above: (24) 'Winter Morning [Glasgow]' Below: (25) 'Park Circus'
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GAVIN WEIR Gavin Weir's urban scenes are characterised by great fidelity to realism, which imbues a great wealth of detail with emotional richness through the illumination of bold colour and innovative choices of perspective. In doing so, the artist 'seeks to capture the juxtaposition of ideas that the built environment encapsulates. sometimes architecturally arbitrary, at others intentionally harmonious, Scottish cities are exciting visual experiences.' In the current paintings, we can see the little quirks of symmetry or correspondence, in colour or linear form, which represents such a 'juxtaposition of ideas' and serves to make Weir's painting so visually rewarding; the red-orange of a traffic light catches the famous orange of the Duke of Wellington's traffic-cone hat - the clear, deep blue of the sky, along with the Edwardian architecture of Glasgow Central Station are broken up, mingled together, and refracted in the modern Westergate Chambers, on the other side of Hope Street.
(30) 'North Bridge Street'
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Top: (31) 'Central Station' Centre Left: (32) 'Duke of Wellington' Bottom Left: (28) 'Renfield Street' Right: (27) 'West George Street'
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RONNIE RUSSELL With a distinctly impressionist style, Russell's paintings reveal an artist adept at capturing the posture or motion of a foreground figure, the essential character of a building or a landscape, with just a few brushstrokes. Time and again, we see his awareness of light's interaction with architecture, with water or with its effect upon skies, changing or still - conjured in bright, solid acrylics. The current paintings mark a pronounced emphasis on coastal towns, where the light captured upon the roofs of buildings communicates with the light reflected upon the surface of the water.
(34) 'Whitehills near Banff '
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(37) 'St Andrew's Castle' [detail]
(33) 'Caledonian Court, Fort Augustus'
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About scotlandart.com scotlandart.com is a welcoming art gallery based in the centre of Glasgow, boasting a diverse collection of works by some of the most impressive contemporary artists based in or inspired by Scotland. Alongside our monthly programme of exhibition launches we also arrange mixers and networking events for local businesses and societues, lease artworks for commercial or domestic use and offer a professional advice and faciliation service for those looking to commission original artworks for their homes and offices. Email enquiries@scotlandart.com to learn more about our services, or to request to join our mailing list and receive invites to our gallery events.