ANDREW MACKENZIE THE OPPOSITE SHORE 5-30 OCTOBER 2019
Cover: Dusk Barn, Snow (detail) Charcoal and soft pastel on Fabriano, 50x65.5cm Additional works will be available during the exhibition. Further information on the artist, artworks and prices can be found on our website and via our Artsy profile.
ANDREW MACKENZIE THE OPPOSITE SHORE 5-30 OCTOBER 2019
Join us for the opening on Saturday 5th October from 2-4pm
&Gallery 3 Dundas Street Edinburgh EH3 6QG andgallery.co.uk info@andgallery.co.uk 0131 467 0618
Andrew Mackenzie The Opposite Shore ‘But trees warp time, or rather create a variety of times: here dense and abrupt, there calm and sinuous – never plodding, mechanical, inescapably monotonous. I can still feel this as soon as I enter one of the countless secret little woods in the Devon-Dorset border country where I now live; it is almost like leaving land to go into water, another medium, another dimension. When I was younger, this sensation was acute. Slinking into trees was always slinking into heaven.’ John Fowles, The Tree, Little Toller, p 17 The Opposite Shore is a series of new paintings and drawings which celebrate the crucial relationship between woodland and water, punctuated by geometric linear forms reminiscent of snow poles, street lights, signs, buildings, walls, windows, boardwalks or tree tubes. This focus has its starting point in the landscape around my studio in the Scottish Borders, based initially on time spent observing and recording trees, man-made structures and water in various forms. For example, in Verge Revisited (opposite) I absorbed the patterns and rhythms of winter trees (Alder, Willow, Birch, Aspen, Rowan) along the burn at the edge of the road to the studio, passed often in the dark by torchlight, or at dusk. A line from John Fowles (like leaving land to go into water) began to permeate my thinking as I made this work, reflected in the process of applying and removing paint repeatedly - submerging the trees and then revealing them again, slightly altered. Snow (water) is suggested through tiny repeated blue lines, weaving through and across the painting. Future planting is hinted at by sparse orange vertical lines. The colour balance and composition took many months to arrive at and traces of previous decisions are left visible in the surface. My interest in the interplay between trees and water also stems from a large-scale public art project I am currently producing for the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme, in collaboration with Alec Finlay and Gill Russell, which examines correlations between branching patterns of the Teviot watershed, tree forms and river culture. The project includes tree planting on the tributaries themselves to encourage thinking around natural flood management. Three paintings in this show (Flood Wall 1, 2 and 3) present considerations of woodland in relation to schematic drawings of hard engineering. Opposite Shore (reservoir) 2 is based on observations of various reservoirs across Scotland – Harlaw in the Pentlands, Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands, Talla in the Borders – distilled to a horizontal green edge of paint behind trees. The boardwalk drawing is derived from a walkway at the Ettrick Marshes. Opposite Shore (Loch) shows the unromanticised shore of Loch Ness. The blue/grey of the water has been used instead on the shore side trees, marking the fundamental connection between trees and water. On the opposite shore is the road between Inverness and Drumnadrochit which I travelled often as a child to visit family in the Great Glen. River Painting 7 and 8 show the awe-inspiring gorge of the River Findhorn, prone to spate. The layered diagrammatic line drawings here suggest the presence of human space, but are left deliberately ambiguous. They are ‘frameworks’, perhaps referring to how we construct our sense of place, as an exchange between what is there and what we bring to it through our prior knowledge and experience. To end again with John Fowles, written in 1979: “We lack trust in the present, this moment, this actual seeing, because our culture tells us to trust only the reported back, the publicly framed, the edited, the thing set in the clearly artistic or the clearly scientific angle of perspective. One of the deepest lessons we have to learn is that nature, of its nature, resists this.” The Tree, Little Toller, p 61
Verge Revisited Oil on Panel, 107x180cm
Opposite Shore (Reservoir) 2 Oil on Panel, 32.5x55cm
Opposite Shore (Loch) Oil on Panel, 53x90cm
River Painting 8 Oil on Panel, 63x107cm
River Painting 7 Oil on Panel, 63x107cm
Scots Pine, Building (Magenta) Oil on Panel, 53x90cm
Flood Wall 2 (Orange) & Flood Wall 3 (Magenta) Oil on Plywood, 30.5x39.5cm
Winter Pond Charcoal and soft pastel on Fabriano, 50x65.5cm
Building, Trees 7 (Red) Oil on Panel, 63x107cm
ANDREW MACKENZIE E D U C AT I O N Edinburgh College of Art: 1991 - 1993 Master of Fine Art (M.F.A.) 1987 - 1991 BA (hons), Drawing and Painting SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 Forthcoming - Sarah Myerscough, London 2019 The Opposite Shore, the &Gallery, Edinburgh 2018 Vertical Forms, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary 2017 Temporary Structures, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London 2014 Veined With Shadow-Branches, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London 2013 Approaching the Verge, an talla solais, Ullapool, Scotland 2012 Silver between the Falls, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London 2010 Still Surfacing, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London 2008 Cross Section of a Cascade, Sarah Myerscough, London 2006 Delicate Ground, Amber Roome Contemporary Art, Edinburgh 2005 Counterpart, with James Lumsden, Sarah Myerscough, London 2003 Sunlight on Grey Painted Steel, Watching Water Rise, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh 2002 New Work, Merz Gallery, Edinburgh New Work, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (with Edward Teasdale and Christine Jones), Wakefield 1999 Semi-detached, East Kilbride Arts Centre, East Kilbride, Scotland New work, Courthouse Gallery, Ballycastle, Republic of Ireland 1998 Between states, Bellevue Gallery, Edinburgh Between states, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019 Alight, Visual Arts Scotland, RSA, Edinburgh Conversations in Wood, Marchmont House, Scottish Borders London Art Fair, &Gallery 2018 The Salon Fair, New York, with Sarah Myerscough Gallery 2017 Process and Possibilities, 50th Anniversary – 8 printmakers selected from the archive, EPW. Cause and Effect, Tatha Gallery, Newport-on-Tay 2016 Converge, invited artist at Visual Art Scotland, RSA, Edinburgh Contemporary Printmakers, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud Fly2016, Visual Art Scotland
2015 Curved Stream, 8 Contemporary Artists at Traquair House, Innerleithen 2015 Abstraction From Architecture, Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop Gallery New Work, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary, Canada InPrint Biennale, Hull School of Art and Design, Hull 2014 Paris Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, Grand Palais, Paris Space//Squared, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco 2013 Paris Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, Paris Drawn Away Together, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh Coast Arts Festival, Duff House, Banff, Scotland A Parliament of Lines, Pier Art Centre, Stromness, Scotland A Parliament of Lines, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2012 A Parliament of Lines, City Art Centre, Edinburgh Wider Than a Postcard, Breezeblock Gallery, Portland, Oregon Evaluation of Space, Rochester Art Gallery, Rochester 2011 RSA Annual Exhibition, invited artist, Edinburgh Fleming Collection Summer Exhibition, London Stobhill Hospital, permanent collection, Glasgow 2010 The Secret Confession, Edinburgh College of Art London Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough 20/21 Art Fair, London Abstract Matters, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh Affordable Art Fair, New York, Sarah Myerscough 2009 London Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough 20/21 Art Fair, London Seven Short Sails, online group project Strata, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh Strata 2, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London New Commissions from Edinburgh Printmakers, EPW Gallery, Edinburgh 2008 London Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough Toronto Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough 10 Decades, Edinburgh College of Art Centenary – Fleming Collection Gallery, London Andrew Mackenzie and Jackie Anderson, Amber Roome Contemorary Art, Edinburgh 2007 10 Decades, Edinburgh College of Art Centenary – City Art Centre, Edinburgh Equinox, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London Group show, Amber Roome Contemporary Art, Edinburgh
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1997
London Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough and Amber Roome Transcriptions, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London Art in Healthcare auction, Lyon and Turnbull, Edinburgh Toronto Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art London Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art Viewpoint, National Galleries of Scotland, Duff House, Banff London Art Fair, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London Greetings From Edinburgh, curated by Helen Monaghan, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh Fearful Symmetry, Merz Gallery, Edinburgh The Birthday Party, The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh ArtLondon, with Sarah Myerscough Fine Art Miniatures, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London ArtFutures 2003, Contemporary Art Society, London Past Standing, The Changing Room, Stirling Work on Paper, Eye-2, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh Aphelion, Art.tm, Inverness ArtFutures 2002, Contemporary Art Society, London Fresh Art, Business Design Centre, London Andrew Mackenzie, Shane Bradford, Luke Frost and Mark Pearson, Sam Pease, London On Land, Travelling Gallery, various locations, Scotland Primed (with Paul Keir, James Lumsden and Raymond Mulligan), Bellevue Gallery, Edinburgh In The Summertime, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh Shockproof (with Donald Urquhart, Paul Keir and Graham Todd), Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary, Canada
AWARDS 2016 Open Eye Gallery Award at Converge, Visual Art Scotland 2015 GF Smith Award, InPrint Biennale, Hull Visual Art and Craft Award, Scottish Borders Council/ Creative Scotland 2009 SAC research and development grant Hope Scott Trust Award towards catalogue for Strata 2003 Visual Arts Award, City of Edinburgh Council 2001 Visual Arts Award, City of Edinburgh Council 1999 Arts Trust for Scotland Award, Scottish Arts Council 1999 Scottish Arts Council Assistance Grant 1999 Ballinglen Arts Foundation: two month residency in Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland 1998 Hope Scott Trust Award, Edinburgh 1991 London Royal Academy Aeneas Award: scholarship to Florence 1990 Erasmus Exchange Program: three month period of study in Athens School of Fine Art
MEMBERSHIPS • Society of Scottish Artists • Scottish Artist Union • Edinburgh Printmakers • Visual Art Scotland (PRESIDENT) COLLECTIONS • Marchmont House • University of Edinburgh • Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow • Edinburgh City Art Centre • Eastern General Hospital, Edinburgh • Royal Academy, London • Edinburgh College of Art • Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Co Mayo, Republic of Ireland • Paintings in Hospitals Scotland • Fleming Collection, London • Fidelity Investments • Bank of America • Bank of Scotland • Lord and Lady Stevenson • Edinburgh Academy PUBLIC ART • Project Artist for Hawick Flood Protection Scheme – large scale public art commission with Alec Finlay and Gill Russell, 2016 - 2020 • Crown House/No 1 Kingsway London, large scale triptych,2011 • The Grace of the Birch, Stobhill Hospital, 2013 • Sloane Square commission, 2014 • Hawick High School Landscape and Site-specific Concrete Poetry Project, 2015 C U R AT O R I A L • Conversations In Wood, exhibition and symposium with Marchmont House, Craft Scotland and The Scottish Gallery. • Paper Planes, a group show of work on paper, including Callum Innes, Graeme Todd, Bronwen Sleigh, Pat Law, Alan Shipway, Sharon Quigley, Mary Morrison, James Lumsden, Philip Reeves and David Cass. Cloudhouse Gallery, Stow, Scotland. • Visual Arts Scotland – FLY 2017, OPEN 2018, ALIGHT 2019 and OPEN 2019/20 RSA Edinburgh • SSA and VAS, 2018 - graduate showcase selection from Glasgow School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art. • Curatorial projects in 2018: Satellite, Summerhall, Edinburgh and Current, Tatha Gallery, Newport upon Tay
&Gallery, 3 Dundas Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6QG andgallery.co.uk :: info@andgallery.co.uk :: 0131 467 0618