The Graduate

I recently found myself exploring the hallowed halls of Glasgow School of Art.  The richness of the wooden panels, the MacIntosh detailing, the sour sweet smell of oils.  I found myself being transported back through through the decades, when so many of Scotland's great and good would have soaked up this atmosphere  . . . John Byrne, Liz Lochhead, Robbie Coltrane, Peter Capaldi, Alasdair Gray.  Just a few of the many talented and creative types amongst the art school's famous alumni. 

It is a special place, and you can sense the creative weight of it when you enter through its beautiful doors.  As they swing shut, it's as if you have left the grey of Glasgow's streets far, far behind and entered quite a different world.

 



It seems the talent in Scotland is burgeoning out of all of it's art schools.  A more recent graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College is Felix Daly, and we are pleased to be showing two of his striking works in the current Winter Exhibition.  Although I am told that the emphasis has changed in many art schools from a traditional grounding in drawing and paining, to a broader more conceptual one, I am excited to see this neglected grounding being so exquisitely expressed in Felix's work.

This kind of bold figurative expression is seen less and less.  It makes the work all the more arresting, almost daring.  And the large scale of the works, almost life-size, make them impossible to ignore.

I look forward to seeing what the younger graduate achieves.  Maybe he will follow in the footsteps of Scotland's outstanding talents.  Watch this space!

Thanks for reading!

Natalie