The Union Gallery on Broughton Street will exhibit new abstract landscapes by one of its owners and founders, Alison Auldjo, from 11 November to 5 December.
Gone to Earth features what partner Robert Dawkins describes as 'melancholy but beautiful' responses to a time of uncertainty in which individuals – not least financially troubled artists – must stick together for mutual support. Shown right is her 'The Longest Day with Angel, Devil and a Hare' (oil on canvas).
The exhibition marks a welcome return to the public eye for Auldjo's work. For two-and-a-half years she set her painting to one side as she concentrated on establishing the business.
Now, however, following a 'self-imposed exile' in deepest South-west Scotland where she could concentrate undistracted, she has created a body of work which combines responses to the natural environment, to the shifts of history, and to human psychology.
'My paintings are not necessarily traditional or representational,' she has written before, 'and it is only recently I have realised that there is an important element of autobiography in the work. I turn to, and rely on, the landscape to express emotions. I find that it is in natural surroundings that I can realise my innermost feelings: be they joy, uncertainty or longing. Often I deliberately seek out the remotest places, or most comforting, to reflect or to record important developments in my life.'
Auldjo's exhibition is named after the 1917 novel by English writer Mary Webb (a descendant of Sir Walter Scott), whose writing is often particularly admired by fans for its close observation of people and countryside.
*****
Superclub Studios and Gallery at 11a Gayfield Square will show new works by Richard Taylor and Ross Hamilton Frew next month (29 October–18 November).
[img_assist|nid=2260|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=172]
The joint exhibition – ipso facto (rendered obscure by the very act of unhelpfully naming it in Latin) – concentrates on collaborative artistic practice; a process which will be discussed, live, from the blogging platform Artists talking on 10 November, 5.00–7.00pm.
Taylor's work comprises 'pencilled imaginations' realised through 'installation, film work and performance'.
Frew's work is 'embedded in the act of making marks [and] deals with the physicality of the page and the parameters set by each surface he works upon.
'Through a carefully selected body of work both artists will allow the other's practice to bleed in to that of their own, creating a single body from two separate practices.'
*****
Framed Gallery at 11B Gayfield Square will host Rescue from 4 November onwards: an exhibition 'centred on animals for animals'.
All proceeds will go to the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home.
Featured artists will include Diane Dawson, Sue Black and Angela Heldemann, whose shocking 'Thief' (below) features a gigantic tapeworm abducting a puppy.
[img_assist|nid=2261|title=|desc=|link=node|align=middle|width=614|height=640]