The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
ART OF THE MATTER IN PERTHSHIRE
Beth Junor of the Junor Gallery tells us about her wish to return to Orkney and how keeping busy gives her purpose. She recently moved her gallery online and took part in the London Art Fair
triggering inside is much more emotional in a sense. I hope that the painting is recognisable as a particular landscape but also that there’s something more to it, a kind of resonance.”
The farmland study A Partial Eclipse was inspired by a sunset viewed west of Crieff last spring. “There was no eclipse but I created the atmosphere as though it was that, and that was a response to the lockdown early on,” he says.
“The big painting which is a centrepiece to the exhibition, First Light, Torlum Hill, was when we were most of the way through the pandemic’s first wave and it looked as though we were coming out the other end.
“I set off at three in the morning in August and watched the dawn rise and took a whole lot of images from that, and then worked from the notion that this new dawn was like a beacon of hope.
“Winter Light In Torlum Wood was one of the first paintings I produced after we’d gone into full lockdown. It shows a birch tree which is highlighted by a low level ray of light and it just shines in the darkness of the woods, so again it’s a reference to the period that we’re going through and the notion that there could be some hope emerging out of the gloom.
“It seemed appropriate that it was the young tree the light was falling on.”
Another remarkable inclusion is the stunning sunset Heavenly Turbulence, an early 2020 work which the father-of-three says he now looks back on “as a harbinger for what was about to come”.
Philip insists though that readings of his work should first and foremost be seen as his viewer’s prerogative. “I don’t like to be too dogmatic about what the paintings mean,” he stresses.
“If it’s successful then people can get a feel from it without necessarily needing to know all of the background information – in a way like music does it. If you listen to a piece of music, even though you might question what it’s about, it does make you feel something.”
The early lockdown restricted Philip’s fieldwork opportunities, but precious walks with his wife and children during that difficult period allowed him to build up his portfolio of images.
“It depends on the company, but generally I much prefer to go out on my own, then I’m completely immersed in my subject,” he says.
“When I’m out for a walk with the family they put up with it! They’ll carry on walking while I get what I need to get, then I’ll gallop to catch up with them.
“I have to capture a sudden shift in light if I can because otherwise the moment’s gone. I’m not a landscape painter who can just plonk my easel in a field and start to paint, because everything is changing too fast and I can’t really compute what is going on.
“If you’re looking at the canvas and then at the sky or whatever it’s all changed. The trees and the grasses are all moving. I need that distillation and the best way for me to do it is to take photographs and then look back through them and decide what exactly the composition is going to be.
“It can sometimes be time consuming but if I’m trying to put together a composition for a painting I don’t need all the elements in one image. I use my ipad so I can just click from one picture to another changing a sky or whatever. I don’t need to have the whole thing worked out in Photoshop before I begin. There’s flexibility there.”
There’s an element to the Braham modus operandi of unlocking a puzzle, with new
work often starting with photos retrieved from his archive and viewed with fresh eyes.
“The painting The Endless Path started up Ben Lomond when it was so foggy you couldn’t see anything except for maybe 100 metres ahead, but that became relevant to me because I was thinking about the path of life and my father, who never knew my wife and two children,” he elaborates.
“I was reflecting back on that as well as thinking into the future. I’m 61 now and I don’t know if I’ll see my children’s children in the future.
“It’s that notion that we live in this little zone which is our life and both our history and our future – our children – are in the fog.
“It’s when something like that becomes relevant – but it’s only through thinking – that an image will jump out at me.
“My paintings are part of the Romantic tradition where the image stands for something beyond just itself.
“I don’t like the word transcendental but there is that element where – when you stand before it – you think, wow, this is definitely more than just the landscape you’re looking at.”
Philip agrees that his recent work contrasts with earlier explorations of primal fears via themes such as suicide, regret and madness. “Maybe that’s partly to do with the relocation,” he reflects.
“I feel quite contented now so the paintings are quieter and more serene, I think. Nevertheless, there’s still always that shadow of how long have we got.”
Closer To Home has proved popular in
recent weeks after being forced online, but like so many creatives – including his DJCAD proteges – Philip has endured lean times since Covid hit.
“I don’t think I’ve sold any work in the last year – that’s why I was so looking forward to this exhibition,” he admits.
“It’s been the same for all of my artist friends and colleagues. Some galleries have adapted well to it all but most people are just having a look online, they’re not having a conversation or thinking they might buy something.
“It affected graduates last year and it looks like it’s going to affect this year’s lot as well, unfortunately. The V&A’S presence is still having an impact and the art school’s getting a lot of applicants, but it’s a difficult time for everybody.”
Looking ahead, the lecturer says a return to the real offers hope to those grappling with a pandemic in the age of artificial intelligence and super-information.
“I’m interested in philosophers like Heidegger, for whom the immersion in the real world was what it was all about,” Philip declares.
“He talks about the way one carries oneself, making sure that one’s thoughtful in terms of our relationship with other people and nature.
“Those sorts of things have helped carry me through the pandemic. I get great pleasure just watching a furrowed field turn to something sprouting new growth. It’s just an immersion in nature really.”
SOME GALLERIES HAVE ADAPTED WELL TO IT ALL BUT MOST PEOPLE ARE JUST HAVING A LOOK ONLINE, THEY’RE NOT HAVING A CONVERSATION OR THINKING THEY MIGHT BUY SOMETHING
Q Where in the world are you happiest?
A Pottering about in my garden. I’m very fortunate to have a south facing garden I inherited from obviously very loving past owners. I’ve enjoyed the first year of watching and waiting, seeing what’s growing. I’m just beginning to add in my own favourites.
Q Favourite part of Scotland to explore?
A Orkney – I managed to get there for the first time in September after I’d locked up my gallery in St Andrews for the last time. It was awe inspiring – I’d love to return and explore the places I couldn’t see then.
Q What inspired you to run your own gallery?
A My gallery’s still 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration! The inspiration was having had a lifetime of being exposed to art and being nourished by it. It’s kind of payback time now.
Q Which artists you?
inspire
A Mary Margaret Pettway and Loretta Pettway Bennett, two of the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers from a small, remote community in Alabama – the incredible beauty of their work, the way they’re handing on the legacy of generations and their own warmth and wisdom are inspirational.
Q Your house is on fire, what one item do you save?
A An album of family photos.
Q Theme song for life?
your
A Clouds, by Joni Mitchell. We understand so little about life, in the end.
Q
A Tea and toast with marmalade.
Last meal on Earth? Q Dream post-covid dinner guests?
A All the friends who kept me going throughout with their Whatsapp messages, emails, phone calls and texts.
Q Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know?
A I played the bagpipes in a girls’ pipe band called the Bonnie Bluebells.
Q Favourite holiday destination?
A Avignon,
France.
Q What was the last you read?
book
A I’m on a Penelope Fitzgerald binge at the moment. The Bookshop was a great comfort when
I lost my gallery’s premises. physical
Q If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A Sharon fruit (a variety of persimmon) – there’s nothing more delicious. Eat one or two and you instantly feel better.
Q What makes you happy?
A Work. Having a purpose every day, small or great, and achieving it.
Q Do you believe in at first sight?
love
A Yes, absolutely. One knows right away. But trust and many other things are more important in the long run!
Q Have you ever had a paranormal encounter?
A Oh goodness I think most of us are having paranormal encounters at the moment – with Zoom and all the other distant ways of being with friends and family. They become ghost-like and that’s what’s so exhausting about it all.
Q If you could go back to any point in history, what would it be?
A Thursday June 24, 1937 – there was a benefit concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Spain and
Culture, where Picasso was amongst the speakers. Pablo Casals sent a message. Paul Robeson also sent an anti-fascist message that stole the show. I’d have liked to have been there. We need this again now.
Q What is the best advice you have ever received, and who did it come from?
A “Park that one.” A younger colleague told me this when we faced a frustrating situation we could do nothing about. She said, “Let’s just park that one for a while” – I’ve recalled her words often since. Some things can be put aside – a solution will appear, or the problem will resolve itself in time.
Q What do you do to unwind?
A I put on some music and start knitting (winter) or sewing (summer) – all my worries go to the back of my mind and I have something to show for it afterwards too.
Q
A My mum’s visits while I was living in Edinburgh and London.
Happiest memory?
Visit Beth’s online gallery at www.junorgallery.scot or the London Art Fair at www.londonartfair.co.uk