artist David Cass

Currently on exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh is the solo exhibition by artist David Cass titled Years of Dust and Dry.

"I document what I see, I never thought I’d paint, I always thought I’d be a photographer, a film-maker even. These aren’t really paintings, they’re hybrids, snap-shots of a journey. And they don’t stand alone, they speak to each other, tell a story."

"I only paint subjects I have an emotional connection with – though in actual fact some of the time I document places which have negative memories of some sort. Sometimes I work with photographs to relive the experience, so painting itself becomes a process of re-earthing." 

"I’ve always been a collector. Since I remember my family laughed at me – first it was simply scrap wood, then wooden drawers, matchboxes, postcards and most recently tabletops. I collected all the way through art school. In fact, it was at college that I started to collect wood. I got so much of the stuff that I didn’t know what to do with it. I began using the wood to create sculptural work, almost to use it up really. When this ran its course, I started using wooden off-cuts in place of canvas. Now the objects have become as important as the painting. I put them in as part of ‘me’; it’s intensely personal."

http://www.davidcass.co.uk

Kirsten Stolle artist

 

Kirsten Stolle makes abstract narrative paintings and drawings based on human and natural forms. Her pieces are built up using many of mediums: gouache, acrylic paint, ink, oil, graphite and wax. She invents worlds that are frequently strange and ambiguous, her inspiration being ecological and genetics issues.  

Artist Statement: "Over the past few years, I have been interested in creating abstractions based on natural and human forms. Root systems, topographical elements, bones, and biological diagrams are often suggested in my paintings. Allowing for multiple reference points, I reinterpret familiar forms through my personal language of mark making.

I began my career as a printmaker and as in printmaking, my painting process consists of layering and reworking the surface, building up each painting slowly. I manipulate wax, oils, and inks with hand-held and electric tools allowing each piece to develop a sense of history. While there is often some initial planning, the final surface is as much a result of chance as it is control.

I continually seek to achieve a balance between the painted object as is and the negative space surrounding it. Absence of marks is just as important as the mark itself, creating tension between each shape and the edge of the picture plane. Exaggerated weighted forms counterbalance open white areas. Improvisational renderings add an additional evolution to each piece. A sense of humor is added for good measure."

http://kirstenstolle.com

http://geneticallycommodified.com/home.html