The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Six Dundee Artists
Fidra Fine Art, Gullane, January 25 to February 23
It hardly requires a trip to the ends of the Earth, but Fidra Fine Art in Gullane is the gallery you’ll need to visit in order to catch a new collection of work from six Dundee artists.
The exhibition title pretty much writes itself with art here from men who worked together in various capacities at Duncan Of Jordanstone College Of Art in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“I’ve known and admired the work of all the artists for some time, but it was through separate conversations with Joe Urie, John Johnstone and Michael Mcveigh that the idea for the exhibition came about,” says Fidra Fine Art gallery owner Alan Rae, who initially displayed art in his North Berwick home before moving his business a few miles along the East Lothian coast when Gullane Art Gallery became available. “They all talked so fondly of their time at DJCAD, and what an inspiring time it was to be working there, the melting pot of creativity that resulted from the tutoring and encouragement they received from the staff for whom they had enormous respect. I thought it would be great to get them back together and that the variety and quality of their work would make an interesting mixed exhibition.”
Neil Dallas Brown had some commercial success with critically lauded work, including his Shroud series in response to the sectarian troubles in Northern Ireland, while William Cadenhead worked as an anatomical draftsman, much of his artwork focusing on the Angus landscape’s reaction to weather and light.
John Johnstone’s pieces are perhaps the most jocular in this exhibition, with everyday lives captured in stark detail, while Joe Mcintyre’s work has shades of US Realist Edward Hopper, and features street scenes such as a rainy evening in Madrid. Glasgow-born Joseph Urie excelled in large canvases with complex symbolism, his work once showcased in the influential Vigorous Imagination collection at the Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art in 1987.
And Dundonian Michael Mcveigh snuck into John Johnstone’s life drawing classes to learn the ropes, eventually going on to win prizes and a scholarship to Paris: His folk-art style is rendered with both wit and mystery.
“What makes these artists special is their complete dedication to their craft and vision,” continues Alan. “They were rigorously taught the fundamental disciplines of drawing and painting which enabled them to pursue their own artistic vision undaunted and quite often without commercial success.
“Stylistically, they are quite different, but the common link artistically is definitely their obsessive need to create. As John Johnstone said ‘You have to be insane to be a painter. It’s an obsession, something inside you.’”