Natural Curiosity is Patriothall Gallery’s end of year exhibition. It brings together works by fourteen artists from the Patriothall studios including Henry Kondracki, Kate Downie and Keiko Mukaide.
Natural forms and the elements influence these artists’ work. The exhibition presents their response to nature in Japan, India, Scotland and elsewhere in the UK in works that range from the grand-scale and scenic to detailed botanical investigation. Natural curiosity is an inspiration for these artists but also a challenge to their individual practice. What they see in nature and how they express that vision are complementary and involve a curiosity about the intrinsic and expressive nature of materials. The painter Gerry McGowan says: ‘It’s not a picture of something, it takes on its own identity; the painting is derived from the scene, but has become itself.’
Natural Curiosity reflects the international experiences and origins of many of these artists and their inquisitive quests to learn and master media as practised abroad then import into a Scottish context.
Natural Curiosity reminds too of John Muir’s dictum:- ‘In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks’ – for example, its therapeutic properties, solace, mystery, majesty, beauty, the everyday and how it wreaks havoc with its power.
Image by Kate Downie RSA
Submitted by Lynn Wilson
