exhibitions & events 2016

Calum McClure

Calum McClure - Monotype

The pieces in this exhibition are a selection of monotypes on which Calum has been working in recent months. The monotype technique has lead him to explore his overall theme of landscape and our relationship with it in ever bolder and abstract ways. In all of the work the motif of reflection is used whether it is a tree in a stream or a reflection in a train window. This challenges the viewer to think about what is being painted, what the varied marks represent and the tactile nature of the painting process.

McClure was born in 1987 and graduated in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art in 2010. McClure’s drawings, prints and paintings depict country estates, cemeteries, national parks and botanical gardens – places created for man’s solace and pleasure. He thinks about these places as a modern Arcadia; into which people can escape for a few hours every week. Through a varied use of paint McClure explores the complexity of images taken from nature that at first look simple. Recent work has taken inspiration from various source images, including film stills, photographs from train windows and other photographs taken whilst walking. He is currently working on ideas and themes including: nocturne, botanic gardens, the idea of an 'in-between image', and more generally light and its reflective qualities.

He was the winner of the 2011 Jolomo Painting Award, has had two successful exhibitions with The Scottish Gallery and was an invited artist at the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Academy in London in 2012. Recently he has been included in an exhibition of prints at the Royal Academy, London; had work in the major Scottish art societies' annual exhibitions; had work exhibited at the RA Summer Exhibition 2016 and won a prize at the inaugural W Gordon Smith Award for painting.

Click here to view an illustrated PDF catalogue of works from the exhibition.

Image: Calum McClure, 'Copse and Stream', monotype, 42.5 x 60 cm and 'In Blue', monotype, 60 x 85.5 cm.