Scratching the Surface

Images of my recent exhibition at the Patriothall Gallery in Stockbridge, Edinburgh entitled 'Scratching the Surface'

This is a body of work I produced for the exhibition, a series of 22 small scale works on wood. Each looked at the city from the often distorting and surprising angle of looking upwards. I used a variety of Media on each, individual images can be seen on my new website soon to be updated (links to which will be posted on here).

An image showing two works I made (Left and Centre) using copper leaf and patenation with various chemicals as well as oil paint and spray paint. The work to the right is by Allan Robertson, a fellow exhibitor (more of whose work can be seen at http://www.allanjrobertson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/).

A view of the second room of the exhibition showing works by Allan Robertson (two paintings on the right) and Scott McCracken.

Two paintings by Scott McCracken (more of whose work can be seen on his website at http://www.scottmccracken.co.uk/)

A view of the main room of the gallery showing the view opposite my own paintings.

The exhibition was a great success, as the first one I have had since coming back from Germany and graduating. I hope to produce more works for a joint/collaborative show coming up in November as well as Scratching the Surface Part two at the end of March.

EXHIBITION : Patriothall/Arts Com?lex

I am having an exhibition in two parts, at the Patriothall Gallery in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. The first part will show new paintings, the second part in the Arts Com?lex near Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh will showcase drawings and studies.

Exhibition Statement : 

Scratching the Surface is an exhibition of work by three Edinburgh based artists presented in two parts. These exhibitions bring together Scott McCracken, Andrew Smith and Allan Robertson who all work within the medium of painting.  Each artist has his own motivations and observations, but they are united in their appreciation and practice of paint’s materiality and the possibilities of painting as a contemporary medium.  The first exhibition will be hosted at the Patriothall Gallery in Stockbridge and will show recent paintings by the artists.  The second exhibition will take place at Arts Complex at St Margarets House and will showcase recent drawings, prints and smaller works.

Artists Statement:

Andrew Smith's recent work has been a continuing evolution of previous years' paintings looking at the city in the context of civil liberties and notions of how society is sculpted. Andrew's paintings are representations that are realistic, blending into abstracted forms of the city from the distorted perspectives. I am interested in the strata of society, how this is manifested, be it visually or in a more subtle manner and questioning it through a visual means. The human environment, that is to say one that humans have specifically and systematically sculpted, has been a particularly strong theme that permeates through my work. What interests me about these environments is both their psychological effect and the social/ideological issues that they establish as well as the layers of history they reflect.


~~~ Look forward to seeing you there!