Calum McClure Monotypes
Calum McClure Monotypes
9 October - 2 November 2013
Front Cover: Night Pool, 2013 (detail) monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms Opposite: Floating Leaves, 2012, monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms
Introduction This month the gallery is exhibiting a new series of monotypes by Calum McClure. After being introduced to the printmaking method by Barbara Rae last year, McClure has produced a new series of works using this technique. In these monotypes we see him address familiar subjects: the effects of light and shadow on water in intimate landscapes but unlike his painted approach of layering subtle, natural tones in delicate strokes of oil, his monotypes see him reduce his subject to more basic forms and shapes. This flattening of the form has allowed him to explore the subject in heightened, abstract colour, using Day-Glo inks. With this change in style we can see how different techniques lend themselves to the artist’s continued development, both constraining and introducing new ways of seeing stimulus and inspiring further possibilities for new expressive reactions.
Left: The Artist in his Studio, Edinburgh 2011
Large Lilies, 2013 monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms
White Trees, 2013 monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms
Night Pool, 2013 monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms
Bright Pond, 2013 monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms
Yellow Loch, 2013 monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms
Artist Biography Born in 1987 and graduated in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art in 2010. Group exhibitions in Edinburgh, London and Toronto including at the Royal Scottish Academy and with The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh where he had a successful one-person show in 2011. Winner of the 2011 Jolomo Painting Award. An invited artist at the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Academy in London in 2012. Calum’s drawings and paintings depict country estates, cemeteries, national parks and formal gardens – places created for man’s solace and pleasure. Through a varied use of paint McClure explores the complexity of images taken from nature that at first look simple. The motif of reflection has become important in his work, challenging the viewer to think about what has been painted and the tactile nature of the painting process. The artist is currently living and painting in Hamburg.
Back cover: Floating Leaves (detail), 2012, monotype, 34.5 x 44.5 cms