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Thompson's Gallery London
Mhairi McGregor RSW, solo exhibition, 'Across the Pond' soon to open at Thompson's Gallery London. A Scottish artist who has gained much acclaim for her highly abstracted, colourist landscape paintings.
Since graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in 1993, McGregor has developed a passion for landscapes, which she expresses in breathtaking en plein air compositions.
She paints with rich colours and a vibrant oil surface, honing a distinctive and instantly recognisable style. Through her work, she has achieved solo shows across the country and membership of The Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW).
As a young artist McGregor's root inspirations originated from textiles - practised and taught by her mother at Glasgow University - and the work of French-Russian painter Nicolas de Stael.
McGregor’s pursuit of new inspiration took her to the American Midwest. The contrast between the natural and the man-made; the changes people have made to the skyline by way of the structures they erect for their own purposes, be it housing crops and livestock, coming together to worship, or warning ships of unseen perils – precisely what she was looking for, and is presented in this show.
Mhairi McGregor, 'Amish Barn, Kalona,' oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches
She explains: "Partly, I’ll admit, it was the question people kept asking me every time I talked about my plans. “Why are you going to Iowa?” People “got” Chicago, even Lake Michigan. But Iowa? Contrarian as I am, it just made me more determined.
"I only knew three things about Iowa. One was Kevin Costner’s “Field of Dreams”. Yes, it’s real and you can visit it, and no, I didn’t. The second was that Bill Bryson built a whole career out of leaving Iowa. There are even postcards saying “Iowa – You May Be Thinking of Ohio”. The third was barns and that some of them were even round – less material and better shaped to resist the elements. And I got to cross the Mississippi! What’s not to like?"
McGregor above all else has sought after shape in this exhibition, the shape of a barn, a lighthouse, a church. The landscape could be the prairie, the desert, a lake or the size of a sea. The building - maybe a lighthouse, a thousand miles from the nearest ocean.
Her process involves finding subjects, walking around them, being immersed in them, navigating muddy fields to find the perfect views she is drawn to paint. McGregor starts by sketching and watercolouring from life, then develops these initial paintings into more abstract works, never wanting to lose sight completely of what it was that inspired her to paint a particular scene.
Mhairi McGregor, 'Red Barn, Iowa,' oil on canvas, 12 x 24 inches
A love of colour, especially layers of colour on top of one another, is evident and gives both a depth of paint and sometimes a glimpse of what was there before.
In the studio, the preparatory studies are painted onto canvases which have been stretched, sized and primed by Mhairi herself.
There is a real sense of ownership throughout the whole process, prior to any oil paint touching the surface. A very personal process from beginning to end, every aspect of each work is uniquely the artist’s.
One won't find Mhairi's subjects in travel books, brochures, nor photos. They are presented exclusively as seen through her eyes.
“I’m brutal when it comes to self-criticism. I plan. I prepare. I don’t spend hours reworking, fiddling around with something that hasn’t worked. “It’s fine”, doesn’t cut it. Anything I’m not totally happy with soon finds its way to the studio bin. The paintings you see are the ones that made it out.”
The exhibition titled 'Across the Pond' will be hosted at Thompson’s Gallery London and runs from 2nd - 18th March.
Family-owned and run since 1982, Thompson’s specialises in Contemporary & Modern British painting and sculpture. This marks Mhairi McGregor’s third solo exhibition with the gallery.
See Across The Pond
For more information on the exhibition: Thompson’s Gallery London, 3 Seymour Place, London W1H 5AZ +44 (0) 207 935 3595 enquiries@thompsonsgallery.co.uk | www.thompsonsgallery.co.uk
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