“Firth of Forth”
Matthew Draper SSA VAS PS
With Astronaut-ical Sculpture by Arran Ross
Preview: Friday 1 November 6-8pm
2 November to 1 December 2019
Our only solo exhibition this year is with Matthew Draper and will open with a Preview on Friday 1 November 6-8pm. Following exhibitions featuring the grandeur of the Scottish Highlands and, most recently, the Sound of Raasay on the West Coast of Scotland, Matthew has turned his attention to the land and seascape closer to his adopted home in Edinburgh – the Firth of Forth.
Matthew’s atmospheric cityscapes of Edinburgh’s Old Town, shrouded in a haar, the sea mist which has crept in from the Firth of Forth, are amongst the most iconic artworks of the city. In this exhibition the city still makes an appearance but on this occasion as a feature of the panorama looking across the Forth from East Lothian.
Of course, no exhibition on the Firth of Forth would be complete without Bass Rock and in this case, the accompanying islands of Craigleith, Lamb and Fidra. Matthew has also been working on a number of pieces from above North Berwick from the Law, looking back along the Forth towards Edinburgh and Fife. The ever-changing weather sweeping down the Forth from the West plays out some of the most dramatic and atmospheric landscapes anywhere in Scotland – the perfect subject for a series of Matthew Draper studies.
Alongside Matthew’s work we will also be exhibiting a range of Astronaut-ical sculptures in bronze, ceramic and plaster by Arran Ross.
Arran provides a little background to these enigmatic figures…
“The Astronaut first emerged from a series of characters I was creating in drawings and paintings during the 1990’s. It gradually took on a life of its own sometimes appearing in a whole variety of settings and materials. On the surface there is a childlike, cartoon like simplicity but the character is enigmatic, timeless and mysterious -an explorer standing with one foot in this world and one foot in another. There is an obvious sci fi element yet the figure is decidedly low tech – primitive yet futuristic at the same time – a timeless icon part ancient part modern- a next generation Gormley – something of the Romanticism of Caspar David’s Friedrich’s the Wanderer – standing on the hill gazing at the beauty of it all and lost in time: a journey that is as much through inner space as it is outer.”
