Castle Gallery, Inverness, until 24 October 2009

FACED with the forceful beauty and enormity of scale of the Californian landscape, Shazia Mahmood has responded with characteristic sensitivity, employing her unique style of painting based on chromatography in an elemental exploration of the natural world and the art of painting.

Yosemite Valley, 60 x 76cm, by Shazia Mahmood

Experimentation and distillation of technique has always been a cornerstone of the artist’s practice, and it is wonderful to see this quality extended further still in this latest body of work. Fuelled by the photographic compositions of Ansel Adams, Mahmood’s journey to California and her work in Yosemite have heightened her engagement with mixed media resulting in bolder, freer exploration of mark.

Storm Over Sentinel Rock (Mixed media and oil on canvas) presents the viewer with what we feel to be a cross section of implied vastness, sheets of water and rock felt rather than described by the artist’s handling of paint. The feeling within this work extends beyond the boundaries of the two-dimensional canvas, creating an overwhelming sense of the human gaze in relation to the power and scale of nature.

The depth and space of the mountains and their sheer verticality is intensely revealed in Sentinel Rock Yosemite, where technique is extended to exactly the right degree – the separation of media in the actual paint-work communicating the volatile, almost fire-like energy at the mountain summit. The solid powerful weight of rock and snow in thick impasto is superbly contrasted with the fluid and beautifully evocative movement of air and water, handled with consummate skill.

There is delicacy in the artist’s palette – accents of purple, blue and orange that positively lift the spirit, offering not a distant, untouchable vision of the mountain but an image which is as immediate and visceral as the artist’s creative process.

The affect of these experiences in the field on the artist’s subsequent work in the Scottish landscape can clearly be seen in a painting such as Camasunary, defined by the finely wrought texture of sky and raw energy of impasto in the foreground. There is boldness and freedom in the artist’s mark which creates a space for the viewer’s imagination to step into.

It is always a pleasure to see such progression in an artist’s work, and the inclusion of early sketchbooks in the show give insight into the artist’s evolutionary process. The dynamic of control and accident through experimentation with her chosen media of ink, pva and oils is one of the most compelling and distinctive aspects of her work.

Her mixed media technique employs a base medium of pva. Ink is then applied, the glue “draw[ing] out the individual dyes to create a distinctive colour transition”. Pouring rather than brushing requires a high degree of control and the subsequent build up of layers of oils creates a unique visual dynamic in Mahmood’s work.

Mixed media works on paper, such as Loch Alsh in yellow, purple, blue and umber, vibrate with raw energy – pure liquefied colour and light in a perfect distillation of the elusiveness and changeability of the Highland landscape. The artist’s American journey has clearly heightened her sensibility, allowing her to explore more familiar territory anew. Mahmood has long been forging a path of her own – a new visual response both in technical and pictorial terms, and this latest solo show represents a significant milestone in her creative journey.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• Shazia Mahmood
• Castle Gallery