Alison Auldjo, founder and owner of Union Gallery is to exhibit a new body of her own work at the gallery this November.
Nearly two and a half years after opening the hugely successful Union Gallery with her husband, Alison Auldjo finally gets the opportunity to exhibit her own work in the space. Having effectively taken 2 years away from painting in order to concentrate on making Union Gallery a success, Auldjo has created a new and exciting exhibition which has included a self-imposed ‘exile’ in Dumfriesshire so that she could focus on the work in isolation.
Entitled ‘Gone to Earth’, after the Mary Webb novel of the same name, this exhibition sees Auldjo using her highly distinctive abstract landscapes as a metaphor for the need of artists and, indeed, the wider public to support each other and help each other in these difficult economic and social times. With titles such as ‘Safety in Numbers’ and ‘Run and Hide’, much of this new work has a melancholy yet beautiful appeal to it, with an edge of uncertainty – a comment on the situation in which we find ourselves.
‘Many people have been affected by the ongoing economic challenges that we face, and often artists are found to be at the bottom of the heap when things go bad. Of course, there are people from all walks of life who are suffering at the moment, but being a gallery owner and an artist, it is other artists that I have to deal with every day. This pains me greatly as I believe we should support and nurture our assets and gifts at all times and, lets face it, Scotland doesn’t produce much any more, apart from a rich tapestry of talent in all areas of the arts. It should be a source of national shame that so many great artists are struggling to survive at this time, given the pleasure they give to society at large.’
The work is certainly powerful and full of passion and, whilst challenging to the viewer, has an eerie beauty to it along with hints of optimism for the future and a belief that through sharing and collaboration, we can all get through this difficult time. In some paintings there are subtle tributes to some of the artists who have shown at Union Gallery, but it is abundantly clear that this is the work of a unique talent that has been missed by many over the last two and a half years.
UNION GALLERY
45 Broughton Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3JU
Tel. 0131 556 7707
Email. info@uniongallery.co.uk
Web. www.uniongallery.co.uk
Blog. www.uniongallery.blogspot.com
