Geoff Uglow Letters from Barra - The Scottish Gallery

Geoff Uglow Letters from Barra

Geoff UglowLetters from Barra2 March – 2 April 2011The Scottish Gallery16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZTel 0131 558 1200Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.ukwww.scottish-gallery.co.ukFront cover: 01.12.10 acrylic on paper laid on linen 121.9 x 152.4 cms

ForewordGeoff Uglow was supposed to be a farmer. He wasraised on a North Cornish farm between Exmoorand Dartmoor and close to the smugglers’ coast ofBoscastle and Tintagel that throngs with touristsin the summer but provides good surf all yearround. There is something in Uglow’s mindset asa painter which could be the inheritance of hispractical, rural boyhood. He understands that toilis part of the process of making art; that hard workwill be rewarded and that there is something inthe materials of his craft: his paint, brushes andthe clean, rectangular surfaces on which he worksthat is akin to a farmer’s soil and good seed. Hehas clarity of vision which helps him know whena picture is working; that he can trust the processof making marks. In the same spirit he has laid outan Italian rose garden beside the fast-rising studiohe is building on his father’s farm – planned in thecertainty that what he is doing is valuable. Hardwork and vision are the parents of creativity.While he is now back in his native country formost of the last decade he has lived in Scotlandand Italy. He has enjoyed considerable commercialsuccess and gathered some of the glitteringprizes that his prodigious talent has justified.Most recently he won the Alastair Salvesen Prizewhich culminated with an exhibition at the RSA inEdinburgh for which he travelled in the footsteps ofWilliam Daniell whose great project to record thehighlights of the British coastline was published inbooks of aquatints from 1814. The project was notgrandiose being rather rooted in the artist’s love ofthe drama of the sea. It did however necessitate anextraordinary serial engagement with some of themost dramatic and remote places on the Scottishcoast. The results were spectacular and the

experience will yield material, particularlyetchings, for which Uglow has plans to publishbooks of images like Daniell, for many years tocome.In the aftermath and with his forthcomingshow here very much in mind the artist soughtsomething different – a counterpoint to thefrenetic seeing and painting which characterisedhis coastal journey – a deeper engagement withone place. Through a happy introduction he andhis sculptor wife Emma moved into a house atNorth Bay on Barra for six weeks in November lastyear and Uglow was able to immerse himself inone magical isle. To walk the island, beachcomb,catch pollock off the rocks, talk to the fishermenin the Castlebay hotel and let the particularlight available only in a Hebridean Winter seepinto his soul. And he worked; the son of the soilhas no time to luxuriate in idleness somehow inanticipation of inspiration, happily or unhappilyawaited. No, Uglow understands his subject andsees its poetry revealed through work. Practicalconsiderations meant that it was impossible topaint in oils but Uglow brought instead a giant rollof high quality paper and acrylic paints and blocksof handmade watercolour paper and set to. Theeight monumental paintings which form the basisof this show are made in a confident new language;each has a motif, each belongs to a particular daybut they are all far from topographical. In someworks elements of the real landscape is apparent;the ancient burial ground at Borve with the Atlanticview opening up beyond, or the brief, brilliantmorning sunshine over Seal Bay. Otherwise thework is abstract; the motif is the colour of thewrack against the light, tossed by the breakers, orthe brown/purple light of a Hebridean dusk. Thesepaintings are not tentative or imaginative nor arethey a reaction against the landscape. They areas certain of their location both emotional andpoetic and as confident in their chosen language asRothko or Pollock.The smaller works are perfectly-formeddepictions of a particular moment; when the oldcrofter next door lights his kitchen window at dusk;Kisimul Castle looming in the twilight bay; the fewtrees by the burn coming down to North Bay pointthe way into the interior hills; the shadow massesof off-shore islands mark cool-time on the horizon.These are the artist’s Letters from Barra, eacha poetic contemplation of time and place madepermanent.Guy PeploeManaging Director, The Scottish Gallery

03.12.10 acrylic on paper 18.5 x 28.5 cms


06.12.10 acrylic on paper 13 x 22.5 cms


08.12.10 acrylic on paper laid on linen 121.9 x 152.4 cms





11.12.10 acrylic on paper 18.5 x 28 cms








17.12.10 acrylic on paper 19 x 28 cms



20.11.10 acrylic on paper 14 x 19 cms


22.11.10 acryilc on paper 28.5 x 38.5 cms




Geoff Uglow Selected Biography1978 Born, Cornwall, United KingdomEducated1997-2000 BA Hons Painting, Glasgow School of Art1996-1997 Falmouth School of ArtSolo Exhibitions2011 Letters From Barra, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh2010 Coda Connaught Brown, London2010 Coda Royal Scottish Academy, Edinbrugh2008 Fathom Connaught Brown Gallery, London2007 Being Here Now The Edinburgh Gallery2006 Fabulae Narrare: Telling Stories Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow2005 Mostra - Recent Works The British School at RomeEgo Sum The Edinburgh Gallery2005 Spent Light The Edinburgh Gallery2002 Nor’Loch Veiled The Edinburgh Gallery2001 Recent Paintings Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow1999 Guyana Paintings Assembly Gallery, Glasgow School of ArtSelected Group Exhibitions2006 Responding to Rome – British Artists in Rome Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London2004 Melt The British School at Rome2003 Arte e Architettura Contemporanea Nel Centro Storico e Nel Paessaggio AcademiaNazionale di San Luca RomeRoyal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition Edinburgh

2002 The Laing Art Show The Mall Gallery, LondonArtists of the British School at Rome The British School at RomeRoyal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition Edinburgh2001 The Hunting Art Prize The Royal College of Art, LondonThe Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition Glasgow2000 Young Scottish Painters Phillips Art Dealers, EdinburghThe Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition GlasgowNew Scottish Art The Compass Gallery, GlasgowArt and Sound - a collaboration The Changing Room, StirlingAwards and Residencies2009 Alastair Salvesen Art Scholarship, Royal Scottish Academy2002-04 Sainsbury Scholarship, The British School at Rome2002 Royal Scottish Academy, John Murray Thomson AwardRoyal Scottish Academy, NS Macfarlane Charitable Trust Award2001 Royal Glasgow Institute, David Cargill Award2000 The John Cunningham AwardJames Torrance Memorial AwardThe Murdoch Gibbons Postgraduate PrizeThe McKendrick ScholarshipRoyal Glasgow Institute Travel ScholarshipRWA Student BursaryRoyal Scottish Academy Landscape Award1998 Armour Painting Prize

CollectionsGallery of Modern Art, GlasgowKelvingrove Museum, GlasgowRoyal Scottish Academy CollectionRoyal Bank of ScotlandHBOS CollectionPrivate collections in the United Kingdom, Italy and the United StatesPublished by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibitionGeoff Uglow, Letters from Barra2 March – 2 April 2011Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/geoffuglowISBN 978-1-905146-50-5Designed by www.kennethgray.co.ukPrinted by StewartsAll rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in anyform by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permissionof the copyright holders and of the publishers.16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZTel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk Web www.scottish-gallery.co.uk

Geoff Uglow Letters from Barra - The Scottish Gallery

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?