Summer City-ScotlandArt’s 16th

Annual Spring Exhibition

Summer

Cityscapes: ScotlandArt.com’s 16th

Annual Summer

exhibition

For the great Frank Lloyd Wright, whose crea-tive genius still breathes through the streets of almost every major city in America, architec-ture was ‘the mother art’. ‘Every great archi-tect’, he believed, was ‘necessarily a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.’ In a city which counts Rennie Mackintosh foremost amongst its artis-tic heroes, these words convey a truth which is readily apparent.

At Scotland Art, we are therefore delighted to dedicate our latest summer exhibition to works inspired by the city. Here, you will see some of Scotland’s most talented painters reimagining and recreating a number of our most familiar views, imposing their signature style upon loca-tions we have come upon many times before – Ashton Lane, George Square, and Merchant City; Edinburgh Castle, and Calton Hill.

Yet we also take great delight in juxtaposing these impressions with those taken from other cities around the globe. From quiet Venetian canals to the lights of the Big Apple, or Parisian boulevards to London's beloved landmarks – here we present Scottish art in a global context, a wide-ranging celebration of urban beauty.

Above: ‘Late Summer Evening, Venice’ by Fiona Wilson. Oil

on canvas, hand-finished grey frame, 70cm by 50cm,

£2,500. All works featured in the programme are available

to view and purchase via our website at

www.scotlandart.com and are listed alphabetically by artist

name.

Lesley Banks

Banks is one of the foremost artists working in Glas-

gow today, to which her exhibition of works in

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum depicting Glas-

gow tenements, ‘39 Weeks and Waiting’, is testament.

We are delighted to display her powerful renditions of

Christmas fireworks at George Square - fabulous exer-

cises in capturing the effects of light upon smoke

against the famed backdrop of Glasgow's beautiful

City Chambers - alongside a number of more intimate

paintings from the West End.

Below: ‘Jellyhill, Day’, oil, cream frame, 42cm by 38cm, £695

Above: ‘Fireworks—Blue and Or-

ange’, oil, dark brown carved frame,

112cm by 112cm, £5000

Right: ‘Looking inward—Misty

Morning’, oil, white box frame, 80cm

by 105cm, £4500

Alicia Dubnyckyj

Viewed from afar, Dubnyckjy's striking panels appear

almost an exercise in photorealism, capturing famous

city vistas the world over with absolute fidelity. It is

only when we see the paintings a little closer that we

realise they are cunningly constructed of small, ab-

stract shapes - prepared digitally from photographs,

yet lent a satisfying sense of variety and chance

through the process by which gloss paint is applied to

board, governed by the eye of the artist. Alicia's career

is definitely one to watch with her paintings featuring

in galleries throughout Europe and North America, as

well as in private collections the world over.

Right: ‘Above Westmin-

ster X’, Gloss on board,

unframed panel, 122cm

by 100cm, £4700

Above: ‘Above Westminster IV’, gloss on board, unframed panel, 122cm by

100cm, £4700

Below: ‘Gooderham Building’, gloss on board, unframed panel, 122cm by

91cm, £4500

Lesley Ann Derks

Derks declares herself profoundly influenced by ' the

lights of the manmade industrial scene', and the 'subtleties

of movement, light and sound' such a subject makes availa-

ble for the artist. Her striking method of layering oil

and enamel paint on canvas cleverly recreates these

subtleties in her richly textured, nuanced works that

are best appreciated in person; the sleek gloom of

street-lit cars beautifully offsets the bright, austere fa-

cade of the 'Hotel de Louvre, Paris'.

Below: ‘Princes Street, Reflections’, oil and enamel on canvas, unframed box

canvas, 40cm by 50cm, £695

Above: ‘Hotel du Louvre, Paris’, oil and enamel on canvas, unframed box

canvas, 60cm by 90cm, £1595

Below: ‘London Eye by Night’, oil and enamel on canvas, unframed box

canvas, 50cm by 60cm, £796

Andrew Hood

Daubs of colour jostle for our attention in these new

paintings by Andrew Hood, to evoke the chaotic bustle

of a Parisian crowd or a lively boulevard, leading to

the French Riviera in Nice. Hood demonstrates again

his singular and striking ability to instil the viewer

with a real sense of motion and flux, of order imposed

upon chaos.

Below: ‘Cote d’Azur—Nice’, oil on board, white floating frame, 110cm by

70cm, £2100

Above: ‘Walk in the City’, oil on board, white floating frame, 100cm by

100cm, £2300

Ronnie Russell

With a distinctly impressionist style, Russell's paint-

ings reveal an artist adept at capturing the posture or

the motion of a foreground figure, or the essential

character of a building, with just a few brushstrokes.

Time and again, we see his awareness of light's interac-

tion with architecture conjured in bright acrylics, and

especially in 'Puddle Reflections, Glasgow' - a piece

with which the artist is particularly enamoured - we

see the artist subtly merging a bold, Buchanan Street

facade with its more freely defined reflection before us.

Right: ’Puddle Reflections, Glasgow’,

acrylic, gold frame with cream slip,

32cm by 42cm, £295

Above: ‘Edinburgh from Calton Hill’, acrylic, gold frame with cream slip,

58cm by 42cm, £450

Below: ‘ Reflected Blue, Kelvingrove’, acrylic, gold frame with cream slip,

27cm by 27cm, £175

Karen Cairns

In her own words, Cairns’ colourful recreations of

streets and monuments in watercolour represent

attempts to 'exploit the paint's natural freedom'. With

loose outlines, and fearless application of bold colours,

she dexterously conjures in our minds the essential im-

pression of a host of familiar locations. We see this es-

pecially as the luminous shape of St Paul's merges with

its reflection in the Thames in 'Big City Lights, London

from the South Bank', or else as the glow of the sunset

over Ashton Lane in 'West End Girls' finds a perfect

counterpoint in the radiant colour of the girls' hair,

bottom left.

Right: ‘West End Girls’, watercolour,

black with cream mount, 33cm by

42cm, £285

Above: ‘Glorious Glasgow, Campsies

from Queen’s Park’, watercolour, dark

brown curved frame with cream mount,

78cm by 47cm, £1100

Right: ‘Wee Pokey Hat’, watercolour,

black frame with cream mount, 33cm by

42cm, £285

Below: ‘ Big City Lights, London from

the South Bank’, watercolour, dark

brown curved frame with cream mount,

57cm by 100cm, £1600

Fiona Wilson

We have noted before Fiona Wilson’s preoccupation

with ‘faded glamour’, yet this was in reference to the

portraits and nudes which are a familiar feature of the

gallery’s collection. In her reflections on Venice, we see

the same muted colouration depicting intricate archi-

tectural structures, and find the effect strangely and in-

tensely moving; for all the glorious late sun of her

‘Late Sunday Evening, Venice’, the piece appears calm,

reflective, almost wistful.

Below left: ‘Curved Door, Venice’, Oil on canvas panel, grey hand-finished

frame with cream slip, 30cm by 30cm, £1200

Below Right: ‘Blue Door, Venice’, Oil on canvas panel, grey hand-finished

frame with cream slip, 30cm by 30cm, £1200

Above: ‘Chiesa di San Rocco’, Oil on linen, grey hand-finished frame with

cream slip, 50cm by 60cm, £2300

Margaret Evans

Evan's expert, highly popular portrayals of fleeting,

fickle Highland skies in pastel and gouache are famil-

iar to us at the gallery; it is hugely exciting to see those

same skills focussed upon the waters of Venice. Her

proficiency in conveying mood through shadow trans-

fers excellently to these new subjects; the dark, murky

figures of the gondolas in 'Midnight...' are intensified

by the dim, reflected light we see strewn across the ca-

nal.

Below Left: ‘Midnight II’, pastel, dark grey frame with silver slip, 48cm by

58cm, £895

Below Right: ‘Midnight III’, pastel, dark grey frame with gold slip, 43cm by

57cm, £895

Above: ‘Chiaroscuro’, pastel, dark grey frame with silver slip, 35cm by

45cm, £695

Adrian McMurchie

McMurchie's style may well be familiar to anyone liv-

ing in Glasgow, as his studies in ink and watercolour

feature in establishments all over town. They expertly

toe the line between absolute fidelity to the subjects ex-

pressed, and a certain looseness in their depiction; free

-hand lines and swiftly sketched figures in his panora-

mas belie the intimate, and comprehensive knowledge

of the location's architectural character which the artist

displays.

Below: ‘Graduation Day’, watercolour and ink, brown wood stained frame

with cream mount and brown slip,93cm by 71cm, £565

Above: ‘Atlantic View, Lisbon’, watercolour and ink, limed wooden frame with

cream mount, 91cm by 63cm, £545

Below (left): ‘Early Morning Stroll, Merchants’ City’, watercolour and ink, metallic

frame with cream slip, 48cm by 58cm,

£395

Below (right): ‘Pisa Baptistry’,

watercolour and ink, limed wood frame

with mount, £365

Ron Eardley

Eardley’s background in book illustration is

discernible in the ‘George Square’: loosely sketched

birds against the backdrop of the likewise freely

rendered City Chambers. Yet his proficiency with

various different painting styles and subjects is

evident from the mesmerising reflection of the

‘Palazzo Sagredo’; disparate pinks and blues merging

harmoniously in the Venetian waters.

Below: ‘George Square, Glasgow’, mixed media, white frame with gold slip,

37cm by 37cm, £335

Above: ‘House for an Art Lover’, mixed media, white frame with gold slip,

£385

Below: ‘Palazzo Sagredo’, mixed media, white frame with gold slip, 39cm

by 39cm, £335

Thankyou for visiting ScotlandArt

ScotlandArt.com is a dynamic art gallery based in

the centre of Glasgow, boasting a diverse and well-

respected collection of works by some of the most

accomplished contemporary artists based in or in-

spired by Scotland.

Alongside our gallery space we also arrange mixers

and networking events for local businesses and soci-

eties, lease artworks on a short term basis for com-

mercial and domestic use and offer a professional

advice and facilitation service for those looking to

commission original artworks for their homes and

offices.

Email enquiries to join our mailing list by emailing

enquiries@scotlandart.com and receive invites to

our gallery events.