Castle Gallery, Inverness, until 1 April 2006

Loch Eishort by Shazia Mahmood. © Shazia Mahmood

THIS LATEST exhibition at the Castle Gallery breathes new life into the art of landscape. It is as much about the actual process of painting as it is about capturing the unique landscape of Skye and the Northwest of Scotland.

Driven by an intense ten year exploration of mixed media technique, Shazia Mahmood has developed a style based on chromatography and on her keen observation of the Scottish landscape. This technique involves the reaction of one medium to another (pva and ink), a practice as fluid in nature as the movement of air and water across a west coast scene.

Layers of oil paint are then applied with sponges, builder’s tools and palette knives to create a richly textured image that is as forceful as it is delicate. The mixing of ink and pva is especially effective in the depiction of the subtlety and ever-changing nature of the Scottish light.

Colour and luminescence emerge from behind downpours of rain, underneath the horizon and from behind dark and immovable headland. This play of texture and media cleverly guide the eye into the picture, creating depth and a sense of space that is truly expansive.

Central to Mahmood’s work is a passion for painting, experimentation and for the west coast itself.

The weight of the landmass is felt in the handling of paint, light and colour coming from underneath those layers, fighting its way through. It is a painting which combines the energy of experimentation and change with a great sense of control, both over the palette and the rendering of a scene.

Colour is used consistently to great effect, not in a riot of contrast, but in an assured way consistent with many hours of sketching in the field and even more hours spent in the studio perfecting the accident of one reactive medium to another.

Shazia Mahmood: “There are no chance elements at the moment because I want to be specific in the marks I make and my colours I use are intentional. Although, it is key that the marks look fast and quick so it looks free and more related to the landscape…Challenging myself with the use of marks and technique keeps the work moving and evolving.”

“Loch Eishort” a long rectangular panoramic canvas is a good example of subject and technique working in counterpoint. Layers of media mimic layers of natural light. The effect of poured rain captures the mood and feeling of the scene while the black permanence of land anchors the picture. Exploration of a range of marks without brushwork enables the artist to depict a landscape saturated in the effects of nature’s elements, air, water, and the fire of light.

“Rubha Suisnish” (mixed media on canvas) depicts the moment of a rain shower veiled in pva. Dominant colours of blues, greys, ochre and a flash of cadmium yellow illuminate the scene. Like many of the works in the exhibition it conveys the immediacy of a moment with depth and subtlety.

Similarly “Kilmarie From Strathmore” (mixed media on canvas) has a life in the depth of paint and its handling. This painting ranges from the texture of canvas in the sky to layers of paint moving like waves against the shoreline.

Central to Mahmood’s work is a passion for painting, experimentation and for the west coast itself.

Shazia Mahmood: “…the drama between the mountains and sea is spectacular, also because of the gulf stream the weather changes the scene you are looking at very quickly. This rapid movement across the scene is key. With such massive space around you being moved with colour is so powerful that it sticks to you like nothing I have ever witnessed before.”

It is refreshing to see an artist so engaged with the actual process of painting, challenging both herself and her audience to see a popular subject in a new way. There are many painters of landscape in Scotland’s north but few so engaged with seeing where their medium will lead them.

© Georgina Coburn, 2006

Link

Castle Gallery website