Scottish artist Lola Buchanan is interested in the relationship between the man-made world and the natural, and the conflict that exists between the two. Using striking imagery and a Photorealist style of painting, she depicts a moment in a larger magic realist inspired story.
She is heavily influenced by the work and the raw honesty of street photography, in specific the works of Stephen Shore, Martin Parr and Glaswegian Dougie Wallace. A contemporary painter she admires is Carol Rhodes. Lola believes that both their work can be described as encounters between nature and human settlement, lying somewhere between fiction and documentary. Lola demonstrates this through motifs of animals and machinery providing a surrealist take on the current state of the world around us.
For this project in specific Lola’s work surrounds the post industrial town Glasgow, MT, USA. Besides the name, what drew her to this town was its title “the middle of nowhere” which it earned by being the most remote town in all 50 states. Her research fuelled by anecdotes and archived images found online founded the basis of imagined surreal stories that could have taken place in this town. She combined personal stories from people living there with Americanised tropes to provide a parodied and comical look into what “fake” Glasgow could be like.
Lola graduated with a BA (Hons) Painting & Printmaking from the Glasgow School of Art ’25. We were delighted to feature Lola’s work in our 2025 BREAKOUTS show – our renowned annual showcase of the best talent coming out of the Scottish Art Schools.
