‘Prisoners of the Curriculum’, oil on panel, 2016, 60cm x 76cm

‘Prisoners of the Curriculum’ forms part of ‘Invasions and Excavations’ a solo exhibition at the Open Eye Gallery from 20 April – 6 May 2017.

In spring 2016 I had some unscheduled time off work which I spent walking, daydreaming, puzzling – making  observed and invented drawings along the way. . One recurring daydream was the image of a Victorian viaduct between my two places of of work at the University of Edinburgh.  Viaducts allow for visual speculation of what is between and below; a slower route?, pitfalls? Impassable terrain? The sketch became the building blocks of an idea which would include references to Herge’s Tintin (Prisoners of the Sun), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the original Star Wars trilogy. The main theme is the continuing sense of a pedagogical impasse between the creative learning environments  and the vast corporate infrastructures of one of the worlds leading Universities.

I use a ball point pen to draw out the composition rather than a pencil or a brush. I am at my most dexterous with a ball point pen and I feel able to improvise ideas and images more easily as I draw. I put on a thin coat of primer to seal in the pen work so i can build up layers of paint,  first with washes of the main tones before building up more impasto areas.  My main goal, pictorially, was to achieve the sense of height and layers moving down to the molten pit.

Please contact the Open Eye Gallery to enquire about this and other works in the show.