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About my work: Hanging Series
siobhanmclaughlinstudio • Oct 19, 2020
The incorporation of materials into my works led me to align with the contemporary interest in a form of painting outwith the confines of the stretcher.
The stretcher does not become an aesthetic device in itself, but instead the lack of confinement expands the painting, the landscape is no longer framed but is free form.
Honesty
Untitled (Loch Muik), above right, hangs from just three nails. It's made of thin polythene sheeting, linen and
upholstery fabric and although it would blow away in the wind, it has weight. There is an honesty in its untethered form and in leaving the materials in their raw state, not covering up marks or errors but allowing them to be valid.
The untreated polythene sheeting with the expressive oil bar drawing meets the raw fabrics, balancing out the energy in the piece and giving the eye some space to rest.
The black tape, a product of practical storage, becomes a compositional device as it adds another layer to the painting. The tape on the front is a solid black graphic, yet behind the polythene it becomes a smudged line, like the shadow of rocks and people while you walk within the thick grey-white air of a cloud atop a mountain, when the visibility is murky and uncomfortable.
Vulnerability
While writing about artist Merlin James, critic John Yau said that vulnerability is ‘a condition rarely seen in contemporary painting’. I believe that this series of Lochnagar works fits into this ‘vulnerable materiality’.
An important distinction for me is that the difficulty and grappling within the painting process, does not ask for sympathy, but rather displays the strength that exists in that struggle.
Through the sensory experience of walking, translated into the physicality of large-scale painting, I explore an understanding of our fragile existence, and develop a deeper critical view of my place in the world.
Cut and hanging, these pieces embrace this vulnerability, some of the materials are so thin and puncturable, yet they are not treated lightly or preciously. The thin semi-transparent fibre material in the top left of the painting has been made solid, while loose threads are allowed to be loose.
The hanging of these pieces gives them space, like isolated islands, unrestrained.
The untethered lower section of the painting hangs limp, and unpainted, revealing the process of production.
This blog post will act as a record of my favourite workshops that I've led or co-led in the arts.
During my residency in Cornwall, awarded by Visual Arts Scotland , Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Porthmeor Studios, I met artist Peter Ward . After seeing an interesting painting of his at the Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance, I contacted Ward to ask about the medium of 'earth pigments'. To my delight he offered to show me the best pigment collecting sites along the South West Coastal Path.
Letting go of the imposter syndrome and accepting/celebrating the fact that I'm actually a curator. Nearly 3.5k people visited the Alan Davie exhibition at Dovecot Studios . That's mad to me. Thanks so much to everyone who visited, I hope you enjoyed it! A huge thank you to Dovecot for supporting my idea and giving me the opportunity to curate when I had no previous 'professional' experience. From approaching Dovecot with an exhibition plan in September 2019 to speaking at the exhibition opening in June 2022, I've learned a lot. Thanks also to Edinburgh Art Festival , the William Grant Foundation and the John Ellerman Foundation for the support.
Thank you to Edinburgh Art Festival for inviting me to speak at Art Late 2, streamed live from Jupiter Artland this week! It was a fantastic day of discussion, hearing from a range of artists, curators and creatives about their contributions to this years art festival. Watch the video below to hear my 8 reasons why everyone should visit the Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far-Off World exhibition at Dovecot Studios !
Alan Davie: Beginning of a far-off World opened at Dovecot Studios on 24th June 2022. I'm delighted that the reception to the exhibition, which I've been working on since September 2019 has been very positive so far.
BBC Radio Scotland's Nicola Meighan and I had a chat about Alan Davie last week on the opening day of my exhibition Alan Davie: Beginning of a far-off World at Dovecot Studios.
Meeting a lot of artists recently, who have such varied practices, has made me reflect on an essay I wrote back in 2018 on the role of artists in artist-run spaces. Particularly, meeting an artist who is currently studying Horticulture, got me thinking about the idea of 'artist-as-gardener'. I've just included a wee section of the essay here, which used EMBASSY Gallery in Edinburgh as a case-study, looking at the role of the artist in an artist-run space. In this section I was processing ideas of authorship and importance given to the 'Curator' title in contemporary discourse. Curatorial/artistic practice has developed significantly since I wrote this in 2018, but I think that the 'artist-as-gardener' idea is still a nice one.
In 2021 I was shortlisted for the Gilchrist Fisher Award and this month the exhibition opening finally took place. It was an honour to exhibit with 5 other shortlisted artists from nearly 200 applicants!
During my Hospitalfield Residency in 2021, I start writing in my practice for the first time. I've written a lot for history of art, about other artist's work, about my practice but never as part of my practice. Something about the location of Hospitalfield, the time and space to breath, the summer light, and the conversations had with other artists sparked something. I wrote three short texts that just came out without too much thinking. Well, not too much thinking in that moment. Really they were the outpouring of thoughts accumulated over the past few years. Thoughts that I had not given time to or felt able to express. The result is a kind of reflective, poetic text that combines personal narrative with reflections on Nan Shepherd's writings in the Living Mountain. Following a great crit with mentor artist Sekai Machache , I developed these written pieces into audio for a previous film work, Glen Muick (A Pulling) for the Landscape in Lockdown Commission from the Tate's British Art Network. I'm just at the start of integrating reflective writing into my painting practice. Perhaps it will remain separate, or thoughts might be combined with sewn materials. It's definitely something to explore further...
Clovermill Artist Residency has asked me this week to 'takeover' their instagram feed!
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