Exhibition: Ruth A Nicol - Leith In Winter
Leith In Winter
Ruth A Nicol
01 – 09 October 2011
PREVIEW: FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER | 18:30 - 21:30
“Leith in Winter” as an exhibition explores both travel as a concept in its widest sense and Leith as the area in which I live. It was created for and first shown in The Line Gallery in Linlithgow and this exhibition offers an opportunity to see it in Edinburgh almost in its entirety.
It represents a development and continuation from previous bodies of work.
“To Kilmany” (2009) and “Reflections” (2010) documented significant, personal journeys repeated over time. They included literal interpretations of roads, their structure, and furniture.
The rules act as a metaphor for the journeys we all face in life towards self actualisation and as a discussion between the reciprocal relationship between man and nature.
“Vista” (2009) and “West To East” (2010) were more concerned with metaphysical journeys, movement from one place of consciousness or understanding to another through contemplation and self reflection. Again man-made features and nature jostled with each other in varying degrees of abstraction.
“Leith in Winter” is however more concerned with the mechanisms we deploy to achieve metaphysical travel. That its pivotal decisions are expressed as points on a compass. Many of the paintings work in pairs and are derived from one particular location in Leith, one looking north the other south.
All of us reach junctures and this body of work attempts to capture both the possibilities and constraints we that have to be either accepted or rejected.
Leith lends its self well to this type of study. It is ancient, unique, and highly complex. As a distinct community it has engaged multiple strata of society throughout its history and its vibrancy can be seen in its evolving architecture and industries.
Within the paintings themselves different techniques, applications and importantly juxtaposition are used to help the metaphysical analysis. Hard and sharp lines cut across soft and fluid areas again and again offering multiple layers and complexity. Again man-made structures and the more natural landscapes compromise in co-existence.
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