Alan Macdonald House of Macdonald
Cover image
Flower Power oil on linen | 113cm x 91cm Printed by Kilmroack Gallery, March 2024
Alan Macdonald House of Macdonald
16th March - 13th April 2024
Lion Heart oil on board | 35cm x 30cm
Foreword Painting for me is a voyage of discovery. At the beginning, I don’t have a firm idea of what my next painting will ultimately look like, so I just climb aboard for the ride and see where I might end up. This process can be frustrating and even a bit scary at times, but it has taken me to some special places. In that spirit, let me take you on a personal journey through my paintings. As a guide, it would be prudent to enlist the help of Pathfinder, who is adept at finding a route past The Emperor of Doubt without alerting him to our presence. She will leave us in the capable hands of Raeburn’s Margarita MacDonald, who is on The High Road, so the journey from that point should be a smooth one. Looking down to the loch below, however, it’s impossible to miss the predicament of Andromeda, who is soon to be dispatched by a terrifying monster. Well, If Perseus Won’t Do It… now where was I, yes, our journey. Feeling slightly rattled by what we have just seen, it might be wise to strengthen our guard and call for the support of Lion Heart, but as he doesn’t fill me with confidence, let’s take Helda along too as she looks like she knows what she’s doing when it comes to action. I asked Robert the Bruce several times and he has always declined. Optimistically I give it one more go and to my amazement he says yes! Now descending a treacherous path down the mountain, Solara shines brightly upon our way. Once at the loch side, the services of Storm Rider are required due to the warm respite being short lived. Boarding the small vessel,
The Judge peers at us sceptically through her dark glasses, she has already dealt harshly with Man Eating His Words. The mysterious Botanica brings serenity back to proceedings as the boat heads out onto the choppy waters towards our goal.
Finally and with some relief, the distant shore is reached and much to everyone’s surprise, an intriguing bar called,
Nocturnal Affairs comes into view, where we catch sight of Velazquez’s Pope (not so) Innocent X, who has definitely been overindulging in its pleasures. Hoping to redeem himself as he re-enters heaven, he hears an ominous, rasping voice call, Me
Push,You Pull. Distraction over, the road beckons and what we all seek to find is not far ahead. Majestically, on a hillside guarded by two beacons of hope, La Flamme and Flower Power, sits Euphorus, a place where spring has sprung and all is good. Her white towers are filled with all manner of life basking and cavorting in the warm sunshine. This is a place where all are welcome and it is a place in which I at least would like to stay. I hope that you can discover your own journey through my paintings and that they reward you for your time spent within. Alan Macdonald, March 2024
The High Road oil on linen | 117cm x 109cm
The Emperor of Doubt oil on linen | 73cm x 60cm
La Flamme oil on linen | 91cm x 78cm
Solara oil on board | 35cm x 30cm
Robert the Bruce oil on board | 35cm x 30cm
Storm Rider oil on board | 35cm x 30cm
Botanica oil on board | 35cm x 30
Euphorus oil on linen 178cm x 203cm
Euphorus detail
Euphorus detail
Helda oil on board | 35cm x 30cm
Man Eating his Words oil on board | 35cm x 30cm
Pathfinder oil on linen | 73cm x 60cm
Me Push,You Pull oil on board | 35cm x 35cm
Well, If Purseus Won’t Do It... oil on linen | 73cm x 60cm
A Serious Game Alan Macdonald told once me how little time people spend looking at each painting, especially in a major gallery exhibition. They move travelator-slow until something stops them before they move off again after a few seconds. Macdonald’s work isn’t like this. It will arrest you and make you look deeper and you will be there for far longer than a few seconds. Even an apparently simple portrait head by Macdonald asks more questions than it answers, and it will take you deep into the psychologies and insecurities that defines all our lives. The Man in ‘Man Eating his own Words’ has a gaping mouth that you instinctively know will pontificate boringly and endlessly, but the beautiful golden words being eaten form a softening background that yins his yang.With pinned-forward ears and dopey expression, Lion Heart might not be perfect, but he could be the ‘wonderful thing’ his badge offers. Every Macdonald painting engages: from the proud beautifullybouqueted flowers-wearers in La Flame and Flower Power, to the self-styled judge with her incredible combined ruff-hairband-earing headpiece. You have to look at these figures and befriend their humanity. Under all the pomposity and posturing, there is vulnerability. They are like us. These achievements are earned through devotion. Every painting is a thoroughly worked
composition, not just in where things sit, but in how they move. There is always a rope, string or a flame that is in motion. We see one moment, but the next act might look very different. Life is, after all, a world of many plays that are endlessly and fascinatingly reenacted. And then there are Alan Macdonald’s large paintings. The biggest in this exhibition is ‘Ephorus,’ who in compiled his magnum opus, a ‘universal history’, at the time of Alexander the Great. This painting is also a magnus opus, but is a painted one and a personal one for Macdonald. It aims to encompasses all of history and it will grip you with an infinity of stories that push boundaries of what is possible with oil paint. Watch out for the dinosaurs and devils,Yoda, and the centaurs and the dance around the dress. Who is the central figure? She is in control. The dance is her song. It is spring and love is in the air.You can be like her, Macdonald suggests, if, like her, you learn to control your demons. Tony Davidson, March 2024
The Judge oil on board 35cmx 30cm
Alan Macdonald in his Edinburgh studio.
+44 (0) 1463 783 230 art@kilmorackgallery.co.uk by beauly, inverness-shire iv4 7al