Kilmorack Gallery, by Beauly, until 3 May 2008

Reclining Figure by Alan McGowan

THE WORK of Edinburgh-based artist Alan McGowan makes a stunning debut in Kilmorack’s latest exhibition. Superb draughtsmanship, superior paint handling and a deep understanding of the inner workings of the human figure define this artist’s work. Although the McGowan’s knowledge of anatomy is obvious, working consistently with the same models has allowed him to go deeper to convey the essence of the subject.

Acute and penetrating, his work in oil paint, beeswax, sawdust and straw is immediately tactile with an exquisite range of mark, from soft tonal definition and finely drawn contours to the raw energy of drips, splatters and thick impasto. Powerful and delicately vulnerable in equal measure, McGowan’s vision exhibits the uncompromising edge of Francis Bacon in his ‘Sitting Figure’, the sensitivity of Degas in the soft rendering and intimate scale of his sublimely feminine ‘Untitled Figure’, and high contrast in his “Inverted” cruciform series, reminiscent of Goya or Rembrandt.

More robust, looser handling in some of the inverted figures also recall the earthy realism of Daumier. This is strongly conscious work, conscious of the tradition of figurative painting that has gone before and so able to definitively forge its own mark. In McGowan’s hands paint is not about surfaces but grappling with life. For the artist “Art is prefaced by hunger, it moves to meet a feeling inside.” McGowan succeeds in enabling the viewer to experience that same hunger.

His large scale ‘Untitled Figure’ (hung to the right of the vestry entrance) is a particularly fine example, the kneeling figure curved in on itself dominating the composition. The control and energy of this work is remarkable, the fluidity of the paintwork and the bulk of the main form beautifully balanced. Seen from a distance the earthiness of black, ochre, sienna and umber give way to the sublime definition of back, ribs and belly made visible through golden dappled light and finely drawn contours perfected by every brush stroke.

Straw, wax and impasto echo the origins of creation; human life created in clay and ending in dust. The whole figure is defined by an abstract shroud of black marks, occupying a timeless space with no physical setting and bound to our collective sense of mortality. This is an impressive and memorable body of work grounded in the discipline of life drawing, bold experimentation, accurate observation and pure expression.

Jane MacNeill’s ethereal treatment of the figure recalls the 19th century Pre-Raphaelite movement in subject matter and attitude. Nature as a source of the divine and archetypal associations through legend and mythology are a rich source of symbolism in her work. Figures are elongated, emerging out of a dominant blue ground linking the human figure to a world of “mystery, spirituality and twilight”.

Her selection of the Borders ‘Ballad of Tam Lin’ as the narrative subject matter of this latest body of work is an interesting one, where atypically the central protagonist and hero of the tale is a woman. Fluidity between worlds is expressed in the story of the knight Tam Lin whose soul is suspended in the realm of the fairies and in the magical way that figures emerge out of the shadow, not of darkness but of hue framed simply in gold.

The colours of these works are tonally quite close together giving a veiled effect which adds to the feeling of otherworldinless and expectation. The hanging of these paintings against the salmon high walls of the gallery accentuates this quality even further, picking up the palette of the series as if each figure was emerging magically out of devotional fabric of the architecture. The whole exhibition is beautifully lit and presented in a way that allows the viewer to really appreciate the unique qualities of each artist.

Capable of great sensitivity and power in his depiction of the Northern landscape, Allan MacDonald’s latest body of work is a strong showing of his signature style.

Infused with the pure energy of nature and its changing seasons, works like ‘Snow Cloud, Ben Alligin’ (Oil on board) presents a monumental vision of mountain and sky grounded in the artist’s direct engagement with the environment. The subject is defined not just in terms of its majesty, or a romanticised idea of Highland landscape, but a more visceral and immediate response communicated through emotive and dynamic paint handling. MacDonald’s solo show “Signs of Life” in 2007 displayed works with a more experimental approach and although this exciting new strand of his work is sadly absent here, his landscape works do not disappoint.

‘Frost Shadows, Cabrich’ with its creamy yellow and complimentary blue is a gentle and balanced work with cool colours giving way to warmth as the light begins to shift, the ground thawing before our eyes. The subtle qualities of light and colour heightened by the Northern winter are beautifully captured by a vibrant yet controlled palette. ‘Black Cuillins, Autumn’, with its vital reds and oranges, green and ochre depicts a land alive with colour and the sweeping expanse of the artist’s brushstrokes.

Similarly ‘Black Cuillins’ with a surge of pure white energy emerging out of the peaty black, high horizon with flashes of red and cerulean blue convey the life force of the landscape. Often in MacDonald’s work the smallest marks of strident colour are used to brilliant effect. Even in the stormiest sky there is always a ray of light or a defiant stroke of colour, investing the work with a spirit of hope in the face of change that like the sheer forces of nature threaten to overwhelm us. Though the human figure is never depicted in the landscape our scale is implicit in the artist’s treatment of the subject.

This is a fine exhibition by three accomplished painters, combining the high expectation of two of the gallery’s regular exhibitors, Allan MacDonald and Jane MacNeill, with the introduction of new energy in the figurative work of Alan McGowan.

© Georgina Coburn, 2008

Links

• Kilmorack Gallery