Introducing 12 new paintings from gallery stalwart Coll Hamilton. This mini show is a snapshot of where his painting is heading this year, with a narrative driven collection of oil and acrylic portraits, ahead of a full show later in 2018.
His usual backgrounds have been erased leaving his subjects alone. Vulnerable and exposed. Emotion pours from each work.
Please join us this Saturday 12th May in the Gallery. Doors open from 11am.
Coll’s work has always been very narrative driven and seeks to conjure moments from ongoing stories for the viewer to interpret and engage with. He tries to create exchanges between characters in the images and explore the relations between the figures and their environments. Over the last couple of years a strand of Coll’s work has become more focused on single figures within an image.
“I’ve become increasingly interested in what sometimes seems like a necessity (at least for me) for isolation and time spent alone in the process of creativity. I’d read Sara Maitland’s book “A Book Of Silence” about the experience of silence and solitude. The book examines the possibilities contained within silence and the need for quiet and solitude and how these can actually be positive and even essential experiences that are increasingly less honoured and provided for in modern life. This inspired me to create a series of drawings called “An Observance Of Hermits” – images of people caught in moments of solitude. I tried to capture expressions in the faces of the characters to portray that these moments of feeling alone can be sought after and provide peace and inspiration – alone doesn’t always mean lonely and silence can be something we crave”.
New work available to see online from this Saturday 12th May.
