Kilmorack Gallery, by Beauly, Inverness-shire, until 9 June 2012

ALLAN MacDonald’s latest body of work, The Silence and the Storm, together with new work by Lynn McGregor, inspire contemplation of the human eye perceiving the Northern landscape.

THE pairing of these two artists is surprisingly dynamic, and the stylistic contrast between them heightens awareness of their unique qualities in terms of paint handling and composition.

Allan MacDonald - An Oak Withstands, Tree of Light and Shadows

Since his commanding solo show Until The Day Break at Kilmorack in August 2010. Allan MacDonald’s work has continued to evolve. Imminent (Oil on Canvas) illustrates beautifully the artist’s direct response to nature in a shifting expanse of cloud over a low sea, deeper shadows illuminated by light and a signature patch of blue above.

Within the sky a myriad of nuanced greys reflect an expanded palette, contributing to the feeling of movement and life within the work. It is the inner life of MacDonald’s landscapes that elevates them beyond expectations of the genre, driven by his engagement with paint and the natural environment.

The profound subtlety found in Imminent is further distilled in An Oak Withstands, Tree of Light and Shadows, appropriately hung in the architectural centre of the gallery space where the altar would have once stood. Monumental and supremely delicate in its many layers of pigment and gestural marks, it is a visionary work which has its place in a distinctly Northern Romantic tradition, an image of man and God in nature.

The oak at the centre of the composition is immediately figurative in presence. The range of colour within the work is extraordinary and every mark on the canvas strives towards light. This sense of illumination through light and shadow is at the thematic core of the work, across the trunk the shadow of branches can be seen; signs of growth and age, knowledge and inevitable decay that define the human condition.

The entire composition is wholly unified and the eye is quietly drawn into the work by an interplay of colour, light and form that is ethereal. An Oak Withstands, Tree of Light and Shadows is aspirational and mesmerising, a beautifully measured composition that embodies ideas of strength and fragility.

Allan MacDonald - As The Voice of Many Waters

If An Oak Withstands, Tree Of Light and Shadows is a prayer, then As The Voice Of Many Waters (Oil on Board) is a work of exuberant praise. The vibrancy of MacDonald’s brushwork in this image of waves hitting the headland has its own rhythm and intensity; a scraped surface of white foam, receding field of blue and mist of salt spray filling the senses of the viewer entirely as we stand on shore and precipice.

This adept handling of the medium is also reflected in North Coast Headland (Oil on Canvas) in its bold division of the canvas in form and light, a solid mass of headland articulated by resonant brushstrokes and flashes of green, pink orange and yellow emerging in sky and land. The semi-abstract treatment of the subject conveys the moment experienced with immediacy by both artist and viewer.

Allan MacDonald - North Coast Headland

The Sun Rises, It Goes Down (Oil on canvas) is another good example with its freer brush work, the sun and its reflection glowing orange, white canvas allowed to shine through in a way that feels like a dual hymn to nature and to painting. And The Moon Turned Red (Oil on Board) pushes this idea further still, a thick ground of impasto, light beginning to glimmer across the encrusted surface.

There are many highlights to be savoured here; the fluidity and grace of Winter Nocturne, the glorious promise of light and serenity of The Sun Rises, Winter Solstice, the choreography of air, earth and water in Sea Shadow and the turbulent sweep of waves and shoreline in Storm Coast, extraordinarily realised on an intimate scale. Like the work of Canadian artist Tom Thomson which continues to inspire the artist, MacDonald consistently redefines our interpretation of the Northern landscape and our place within it.

Lynn McGregor - Island Trees

Lynn McGregor’s works in acrylic on board demonstrate her ability to balance elements of spontaneity and structure within her semi-abstract compositions. Island Trees is a good example, a strong image created in sweeping strokes and blocks of colour with a reduced palette of blue, purple, green and grey. The fluidity of under painting and the finer texture of brush and drawn marks are retained in many of McGregor’s works, contrasting with geometric form and the characteristically flattened paint texture of acrylics.

Lynn McGregor - Sweeping Fields

In Sweeping Fields this reduction of the landscape feels like a marriage of design and instinct, the curvature of the horizon calligraphic in its simplicity. Broad, flat gestural strokes work beautifully in counterpoint with bold concentrations of hue, the composition held convincingly by the artist’s understanding of plastic elements. The landscape is suggested and felt rather than seen.

Between The Lochs brings unexpected luminescence to McGregor’s handling of pigment in layers of blues, grey and brown. The imaginative concentration of colour is achieved in subtle layers within a bold formal composition. On closer inspection brushstrokes become visible; yellow and green washes of under-painting that bring a quality of iridescence to planes of form and horizontal bands evocative of the landscape. Initially it is colour that compellingly draws the eye into the work, then the artist’s skill in composition that invites further contemplation.

Lynn McGregor - Shore Growth

Shore Growth displays an interesting variation of surface textures including sections of decalcomania and rectangular clouds of enclosed brushstrokes. In contrast the looser overall handling of works such as Three Shores and Spring Seaweed are less convincing. Arguably McGregor’s strongest works in the exhibition are those where formal design and instinctual mark carry equal visual and associative weight. Anchored exemplifies this approach in the single drawn line defining the headland, bold planes of form, fluid sweep of brushstrokes and pure assured blues of the artist’s chosen palette; the immediate response of drawn and painted marks are tempered by formal elements of design to create a finely balanced composition.

While the hanging of this two-handed show is episodic in terms of each artist’s individual statement, it succeeds in encouraging a dialogue between the two artist’s work, heightening appreciation of the unique qualities of each. This is inspiring work defined by each artist’s investment in their chosen discipline and their passionate engagement with the natural environment.

© Georgina Coburn, 2012

Links

• Kilmorack Gallery