tsg charles simpson
DESCRIPTION
http://www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/images/exhibitions/TSG_Charles_Simpson.pdfTRANSCRIPT
Charles simpsonChanging light
Charles simpsonChanging light
28 november – 23 DeCember 2015
This is Charles Simpson’s first exhibition with The Scottish Gallery
and in some senses it is long overdue. But then again an explanation
can be found in his modesty and reticence, perhaps holding him
back from pursuing a career as a painter. Stripped back to essentials
a painter needs three things; ability, something to say, and belief.
Without the third quality, that art is important and that what you do
is valuable, an artist will wilt in front of the bare canvas or be fatally
tentative. Simpson has immense ability; he has found his subject, in
the landscape of his adopted Borders and the ever-changing light on
the West Coast of Scotland. His work now has a confidence near to
joy; he no longer has to look left or right or behind. The work sits
happily in a landscape tradition which goes back in Scottish painting
by way of Duncan Shanks to SJ Peploe and late-period William
McTaggart. In British terms he has Edward Seago and Constable for
antecedence but can stand up for himself. Simpson’s ability to harness
natural phenomena and without blunting the edges train them to his
composition, always as satisfactorily balanced as a Cezanne still life,
marks him out as a painter, and we wish him a long and productive
middle and late period!
GUY PEPLOE
THE SCOTTISH GaLLErY
foreworD
The Artist on Iona, 2013
3
I took up painting again in my thirties, probably as a creative
activity alternative to my day job as a graphic designer in Edinburgh.
I hadn’t done any practical painting since my time at Glasgow School
of art in the early 1970s where I had chosen to specialise in drawing
and painting but switched to graphic design after a year. In the
intervening years I had always taken a keen interest in Scottish art by
going to exhibitions such as the rSa and rSW, while my lunch hours
were often spent going round the commercial galleries of Edinburgh,
including The Scottish Gallery.
In my spare time I had started doing small watercolours and
gouaches and even managed to sell some of them for modest prices.
In 1990 I left full-time employment and the following year moved from
Edinburgh to a small rural cottage in Clovenfords near Galashiels.
I was earning my living from freelance graphic work, mainly in book
design, but that year I also had my first ‘serious’ solo exhibition at
angus Macaulay’s gallery in Stenton. Gradually the balance between
my graphic and art work transposed and I became a full-time painter
in 1999.
I remember at art school becoming very self conscious about
painting and even drawing, as I sought to develop an artistic style or
identity, confused by the fusion of subject and technique. Interestingly
when I later started painting again, there was no such conflict as
I painted simply what interested me, namely the Scottish landscape,
purely for myself and instinctively in a realistic manner. I still paint
the same way today.
My paintings are subject driven. Subject matter is in turn
determined by combinations of light, mood, structure and composition
dynamics, as well as colour and tone. Sometimes a subject can be
chosen purely because of an arresting image, such as an isolated tree,
a group of sheep against the sea, or a wooden gate. Other times it can
be an almost abstract compositional concept. The chosen material will
then determine scale and proportion of the final painting. a location’s
topography is important to me and I wish to be faithful to the subject
and to what I have seen at a particular point in time. But I am also
trying to create a painting in its own right and the application of the
paint itself becomes just as important as the subject matter. I try to
make paintings without romanticism, stylisation or artifice, whereby
the depiction of the subject matter is more important than my own
expression but where perhaps my own character may come through
as an undercurrent.
I very much enjoy working over several months towards an
exhibition, evolving and shaping a group of paintings of differing
scale and proportion from a good variety of subjects. Subject matter
is gathered from around my home and travels to the west coast
and islands, and is often determined by the fickle Scottish weather
conditions and particularly the ever changing light. a resulting
coherent exhibition hopefully evolves from this accumulated material.
It is a delight for me to be presenting this exhibition at The Scottish
Gallery, particularly after so many years since those lunchtime visits.
CHarLES SIMPSOn
introDuCtion
Sunset over Eigg from Bunacaimbe, 2014
5
1 Crail Shore oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cms
6
7
2 Iona north End oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cms
8
3 Summer Sky, Iona oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cms
10
4 Boats Passing oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
11
5 Iona Summer (The Finger) oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms
12
13
6 a Calm Sea oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
14
7 Beach and Islands, Iona oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms
15
8 Dark Sea, Iona oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cms
16
9 Cow’s rock, Iona oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms
17
10 Crossing the Sound oil on canvas, 90 x 110 cms
18
11 Beach rocks oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
20
12 Wave, Eigg and rum oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
21
13 Figures on the Dunes oil on canvas, 40 x 80 cms
22
23
14 Two Sheep, Ionaoil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms
24
15 Machair, north End Iona oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cms
25
16 an Island Scene oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
26
17 Dozing Sheep, Iona oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms
27
18 Light on the Sea, Eigg and rum oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cms
28
29
19 The abbey, Iona oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
30
20 West Coast Tree oil on canvas, 40 x 80 cms
31
21 Gate to the Shoreoil on ply, 44 x 50 cms
32
22 north Shore, Iona oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms
33
23 Iona, Looking to Staffa oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cms
34
24 Clouds over Crailoil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms
35
25 Low Tide, Traigh oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms
36
26 Low Tide oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
27 Fingal’s Stone, Looking to Iona oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms
37
28 Camusdarach Shore oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cms
38
39
29 Dog Walkers, West Coast oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cms
40
41
30 Evening Clouds, Eigg and rum oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms
42
43
31 Small Boat in the Firth oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms
32 Eigg and Cloud oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms
44
33 Isle of May Studyoil on canvas 20 x 20 cms
34 Misty Crossing, Iona oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms
45
35 Dark Sea, rum oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms
46
36 Changing Light oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cms
47
37 Winter Hill oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms
48
38 Cleared of Snow oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms
49
39 Track down the Hill oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cms
50
40 Winter Valley oil on canvas, 80 x 120 cms
52
41 Dyke, Snow Covered Fields oil on canvas, 50 x 100 cms
54
55
42 Farmhouse oil on canvas, 40 x 80 cms
56
57
43 andrew’s Cattle oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms
58
44 Loch nan Uamh oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms
59
45 February Beach, Dunbar oil on canvas, 20 x 50 cms
60
46 Bass rock, Belhaven oil on canvas, 20 x 50 cms
61
47 Starlings and Buttercups, Iona oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms
48 Stubble Field: rooks and Crows oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cms
62
63
49 West Coast Gateoil on canvas, 40 x 60 cms
50 Isle of May oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cms
64
65
Born 19521964-70 Educated at alloa academy1970-75 Studied at Glasgow School of art
Graduated with Ba(Hons)1975-90 Worked as a graphic designer in Edinburgh1991 Moved to the Scottish Borders to work full-time
as an artist and freelance designer1999 Began to paint full-time
SOLO ExHIBITIOnS1991 Macaulay Gallery, Stenton1992 Macaulay Gallery, Stenton1996 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh1998 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh1998 ainscough Contemporary art, London1999 Tolquhon Gallery, Ellon, aberdeenshire2000 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh2000 ainscough Contemporary art, London2001 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh2002 artLondon (with ainscough Contemporary art)2002 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
2003 Panter & Hall, London2004 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh2004 Panter & Hall, London2005 Olympia antiques Fair, Panter & Hall, London2005 Bourne Fine art, Edinburgh2006 Panter & Hall, London2007 Bourne Fine art, Edinburgh2008 Panter & Hall, London2009 Bourne Fine art, Edinburgh2010 Bourne Fine art, The Gallery in Cork Street, London2011 John Davies Gallery, Moreton-in-Marsh2011 Bourne Fine art, Edinburgh2012 Panter & Hall, London2012 Bourne Fine art, Edinburgh2013 Walker Gallery, Harrogate2013 John Davies Gallery, Moreton-in-Marsh2013 Flying Colours Gallery, London2014 Bourne Fine art, Edinburgh2014 Panter & Hall, London2015 Flying Colours Gallery, London2015 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Charles simpson
Winter at Inglecraig, Scottish Borders, 2010
67
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Telephone 0131 558 1200Email [email protected]
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition CHarLES SIMPSOn: CHanGInG LIGHT28 november – 23 December 2015
Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/charlessimpson
ISBn: 978-1-910267-27-1
Designed by kennethgray.co.ukPhotography by John McKenziePrinted by Barr Colour Printers
all rights reserved. no part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.
Front cover: Evening Clouds, Eigg and rum (cat. 30) (detail)
Inside front cover: Isle of May (cat. 50) (detail)
right: Track down the Hill (cat. 39) (detail)
68