Edinburgh Art Festival – Geoff Uglow -Beyond the Clouds

A new exhibition opening on Thursday at The Scottish Gallery features work by Geoff Uglow, some of which was shown during the gallery’s 180th anniversary year in 2022.

Paintings created using the impasto technique reference his rose garden and others feature Calton Hill in Edinburgh where the artist spent a time staying at Observatory House.

Uglow’s studies in Rome at the British School as the Rome Scholar in 2002 bring an international influence Beyond the Clouds which highlights the award-winning painter’s body of work, featuring Italian landscapes, tranquil seascapes and blooming rose gardens.

A graduate of Glasgow School of Art, when he fine tuned the originality of his painting. His canvases capture the beauty of his rose garden in Cornwall and also Calton Hill which inspired him to paint the landscape – in his own way. His family are farmers and he works from a studio on the south west coast of Cornwall as well as in Italy where he captures the beauty in a moment.

The impasto technique uses thick layers of paint creating the swirls and colour which allow the viewer to see the roses dancing in the breeze. Here he explains how – sometimes working all night – he likes to create a painting in one session.

In 2022 The Scottish Gallery’s exhibition The Ploughman showed some of the huge paintings Uglow had created showing the seasons of rural life and on the Cornwall farm where he grew up.

The 20th Edinburgh Art Festival runs from 9 to 25 August inviting audiences to take a moment to collectively pause and reflect upon the conditions under which we live, work, gather and resist. The programme features work by 200 artists.

EAF Director Kim McAleese said: “This year, EAF celebrates persistence. Our programme traces lines through personal histories, the natural world, post-colonial landscapes, and the global political stage. We have invited artists from across Scotland, the UK, Europe, Latin America, and the SWANA region, who refuse inequity, isolation, destruction, and despair (in large ways and in quiet ways). We want to connect to our context and the city — to the people and movements who inspire change, who enable solidarity, and bring people together to work towards collective futures.”