Anthony Scullion

Catalogue Essay Pensive, caught in mid-thought, immersed in the ebb and flow of everyday existence, Tony Scullion’s protagonists and the empty spaces they inhabit are far removed from the shock and awe of the more conspicuous art of our modern times. In essence his work, consisting entirely of portraits and figures in space presents us with simple yet fundamental dilemmas inspired by the experience of our own mortality. Whilst the figures look either towards us, or within our sphere of vision, neither their mien nor their environs offer a clue as to the reason for their presence. We are apparently being gently provoked to respond. With their plain clothing they appear dated, or even timeless, and could perhaps be characters from Samuel Beckett’s trilogy, or equally James Kelman’s modern day Glasgow. The charcoal and ink drawings (Head study, Years Ago) and the strong angular lines of the painted figures are reminiscent of Giacometti, who himself shunned the trend among his peers towards surrealism, and persisted with his pared-down, heavily reworked, isolated figures. Warm reds draw the figures out of the often more earthen-hued backgrounds, in a dramatic manner rich in emotional sensitivity that calls to mind the chiaroscuro self-portraits of Rembrandt. The clarity of the emerging figures, and the looser, more spontaneous stirred up sea of colour they emerge from, imbue the The Visit, or The Good Samaritan with a certain poignancy. There is a moving sense of lostness, wholly reminiscent of the circular philosophical musings of Vladimir or Estrogan in Waiting for Godot. The painting titles do not bring these quiet vignettes toward resolution, but simply throw up more paradoxes- the Accidental Angel is not obviously angelic, though as with the figure in the Anonymous portraits, he possesses a kind of urban nobility, accentuated in Anonymous II by the upward perspective, and the use of a circular, ‘commemorative’ format. The Free Spirit has a barrier blocking his progress. Alternatively the designations demand more questions, as in Journey’s End (what journey?) or The Visit (who is visiting who?). Anthony Scullion has produced a body of work which, with a careful balance of calculation and liberated painting breathes life into characters who, just as with Beckett’s plays, are for most of us, most of the time, beyond prose or thought and therefore pretence. Instead of the frailty and hard edges being forbidding, the artist succeeds in drawing us in towards the heart of the matter. We recognise something of our own lives and of the world around us in the gestures, the demeanour, the contemplative place depicted. It is in the warm human glow of this recognition that the rare and affecting essence of this work is located. Aidan Quinn August 2007
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Biography 1967 Born, Scotland 1998 Glasgow School of Art, BA (Hons) - Painting Group Exhibitions (South Africa) 1994 Volkskas Atelier Exhibition, Natal Society of Arts, Durban 1995 Johannesburg Biennale Fringe Cunning Stunts, Newtown Artspace, Johannesburg 1996 Eurovirus, Carfax, Johannesburg Eurovirus 2, Carfax, johannesburg Roadkill, Foundation for Creative Arts, Johannesburg Exhibition with Peet Pienaar, University of Pretoria 1997 Shopping Trolley Project, Primart Gallery, Cape Town 1998 Histories of the Present, University of the Witwatersrand Art Auction, Carfax, Johannesburg Sacred Spaces, Carfax, Johannesburg Nudes and Nakeds, Carfax, Johannesburg Solo Exhibitions (South Africa) 1995 Devilliers Gallery, Johannesburg Natal Society of Arts, Durban 1996 Natal Society of Arts, Durban 1998 Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown Group Exhibitions & Fairs (UK) 1990/01 Student Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy of Arts, Edinburgh 1991 Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition 1999 Contemporary Scottish Artists, Flying Colours Gallery, London 2000-05 ART2000-2005 London, with Flying Colours Gallery Fine Art and Antiques Fair Olympia, London Art London, with Flying Colours Gallery Glasgow Art Fair, with Flying Colours Gallery 2001 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 15th Anniversary Exhibitions, Flying Colours Gallery, Edinburgh and London 2001-03 20/21 British Art Fair, London, with Flying Colours Gallery 2001-04 Royal Glasgow Institute for Fine Arts Annual Exhibition 2003-05 Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen 2004/2005 Coombe Gallery, South Devon 2004 Mansfield Park Gallery, Glasgow 2005-07 Beaux Arts, Bath, various mixed shows 2007 London Art Fair, with Beaux Arts Solo Exhibitions (UK) 2007 Beaux Arts, Bath 2000-06 Flying Colours Gallery, London Awards 1991 James Torrance Memorial Award (RGI, Glasgow) 2005 Short Listed for Garrick-Milne Prize