ROBERT MCAULAY | new paintings: Pilgrim | three new series of work
Nature rebelliously grows upwards
Robert McAulay was up delivering these paintings, staying nearby the gallery. I asked him what he did in the evening. He sat in a cloud of smoke looking through the long grass. 'There is so much life there,' he told me, 'I can just look.' This is where much of McAulay's work comes, from looking at a nature which rebelliously grows upwards claiming what is rightfully hers. There are figures in McAulay's work - and sheds and buildings too - but these human things are the interlopers. The world belongs to the tall grass, the trees and the sky.
Robert McAulay was born in Glasgow where he remains, quietly observing and paintings. We have shown his work for over twenty-five years, and these latest works fall into three series: Blocks that appear to float like vessels; Sheds, that could be a still from a noir film; and a Pilgrim series, where figures, travellers, walk through the land. And there is McAulay’s Garden with Tridic Screens, inspired by a Fransis Bacon triptych and from sitting quietly in a cloud of smoke looking. These are powerful works that should be taken seriously.
