Da Gadderie, Shetland Museum & Archives, Lerwick, Shetland, until 28 August 2011

DA GADDERIE, the exhibition space in Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick, hosts a large show of work by émigré Shetlander Bert Simpson throughout the month of August.

This is certainly not his first and I’m sure it won’t be his last in the Isles. Entitled ‘A Skoitaboot’, the exhibition covers all the themes which Bert has painted for many years, focussing on the artist’s relationship with the sea around the islands where he was born. It features everything from charcoal drawing through oil painting to the expansive watercolours which have become his speciality.

Bert Simpson - Pincer Move

Unusually, we begin with a rather dour self-portrait which I don’t think does him justice. However, it does highlight the intensity I find in much of his best work, where observation and skill in handling media are the key elements.

Inevitably with such a large show (well over 50 works) there is stylistic and thematic variety, and as there are no dates on the paintings it’s hard to work out whether stuff is new or old, or a mixture. But let’s say it’s a cross-section of his interests rather than a retrospective.

There is an element of narrative that sometimes verges on the illustrational in the watercolours of boat-building, but pertinent for the venue it must be said. Though full of detail, I find them strangely detached, rather flat in execution, though clearly popular to the viewer.

Other landscapes and townscapes seem taken from photography and again have a similar flatness. However the treatment of stone and stone wall in particular is excellent. A watercolour of ‘Burns Lane’ with its steep perspective is positively giddy in its viewpoint.

Most of the watercolour landscapes are within the topographic tradition, in general built up washes, worked over and turned into skilful exhibition pieces. ‘Towards Tingwall’ is one such example, with its washes overlapping, areas lifted or scratched for highlights, and all suggesting a specific place, time or weather.

It’s especially the skies in these pieces that work so well. ‘Neebifield, Foula’ is a fine example, where subject, colour, form and line all work so well, creating a classic landscape painting.

In contrast, ‘Dusk, Eshaness’ shows us how far from the spontaneous Bert Simpson has come. There’s a delicate freedom here which is missing from some of the more overworked examples nearby. This spontaneity is heightened by the underlying pencil lines showing its structure.

The best marine watercolour here I think is ‘On her moooring’, a portrait of a boat in the water. Though we don’t see any background we can sense from the dark reflections Bert has captured so well that it is in harbour somewhere.

I’ve always enjoyed Bert Simpson’s more esoteric watercolours, what could be called the still life pieces constructed from items discarded, especially flotsam and jetsam, stuff washed up on beaches.

I once met him on a remote beach in Papa Stour during one of his ‘collecting’ trips. Put the bits together as sculpture and then create an observational painting and you have something I find more interesting than the straightforward topographical work.

The variety of shape, form, colour, pattern, and texture in these watercolours in certainly impressive. ‘Swansong’ is a fine example of this analytical style, closely observed elements which use the whole gamut of watercolour techniques. ‘Pincer Move’ is another skilful set piece within a dark background, rather like characters on a spotlit stage with the artist playing with themes of light, reflection and form.

The technique he uses a lot is that of a mosaic of loose washes overworked with linear brushstrokes which demands patience and control. Remember it’s a medium you can’t rush.

Symbolic imagery also features in this work. ‘Arctic Venture’ is a collection of images relating to all things Arctic, including whaling, bone carving, driftwood with minutely observed lichen. The two driftwood pieces ‘Repose’ and ‘Vigilant’ work less well purely due to the lack of other elements such as colour and shape that features in the works mentioned above. Despite that they are full of textural variety.

The seeming haphazard composition of ‘Skerrie Trove’ works perfectly because it is less symmetrical than the other more emblematic images, the hard straight edges contrasting with the flowing lines of grass. Nearby, Bert displays a fine analytical charcoal drawing, ‘Netscape’, and it would be good to see more of this work.

I must be honest and say that some of the oils just don’t work for me. They are undeniably grandiose in viewpoint and treatment but strangely dark and cold. It’s possibly the over-use of blue which contributes to this. Interestingly, I don’t get it with an oil such as ‘Safe Haven’ with its equally dark tones but here tinged with sepia and pink.

The expansiveness of this show is further enhanced by its layout around the walls of the large space in Da Gadderie. We instantly get a feel for the variety of work on show and the range of themes.

Wherever you look in Shetland there seems to be the sea in your vision, naturally of course, and this exhibition mirrors that sense of closeness to water and all its associated elements..

© Peter Davis, 2011