Alasdair Wallace
Artist Statement
Alasdair Wallace is a rare painter for our age. He is a brilliant technician, his works are sophisticated in terms of both their accessibility to the spectator, and the complexity of thought which lies behind them. A rare combination. "Bizarre, odd but subtle," is how the artist describes them and this is true, although the spectator might add ‘alluring' or ‘fascinating'. In a style that is characterized by a very tight and carefully orchestrated formal composition combined with an unusual density and richness of colour, Wallace creates what he calls "landscape inventions". These are drawn from the worlds of his artistic predecessors - Bosch, Giorgione and Breughelare among those who he cites as influences - as well as first hand study of early renaissance and medieval art, which he admires for its sense of the absurd and fascination with the unusual. ??The juxtaposition of images is often disconcerting, stimulating the mind of the spectator and encouraging a depth of interaction between viewer and work that is rare, and especially rewarding as it is tempered with a gentle humour. Individually, details from his work are as engaging and fascinating as the whole painting. It is the stuff that modern mythology could and should be made from. We are able to read our own narratives into each work; they are catalysts to our imaginations and as such are extremely valuable objects. Wallace's statements about his work show this to be intentional: "Images occur to me, they ring a bell somewhere in my head. Sometimes the significance is obvious to me, sometimes not, but that is of no consequence to the onlooker. The poignancy of the image should enable other viewers to concoct their own significances." ??Wallace has trained in Glasgow, Dublin and Northern Italy, and the result of this work is ripe with ideas, sources and technical devices absorbed through these experiences. The work is powerful and alluring, and won him second prize in the Alasdair Gilchrist-Fisher Memorial Award in 1994, as well as a selection of exhibitions in England and Scotland.