Catalogue for Gordon Mitchell's solo exhibition at Morningside Gallery, September 2024
MORNINGSIDE GALLERY
GORDON MITCHELL
RSA RSW RGI
SIGHT - SEER
GORDON MITCHELL RSA RSW RGI SIGHT - SEER
SOLO EXHIBITION 28.09.24 - 12.10.24
PRIVATE VIEW 27 . 09 . 24
MORNINGSIDE GALLERY
INTRODUCTION
Perceptive, thought-provoking, and with more than a little humour, there is always more than meets the eye in a Gordon Mitchell exhibition. The experience is as cerebral as it is visual, as the interplay of images and words give rise to stimulating and engaging insights. A-ha moments are a-plenty! Drawing upon traditional iconography, news stories and visual puns, Gordon presents us with unexpected juxtapositions and sharp- witted commentaries, which question everyday reasoning and the ‘taken for granted’. He invites us into his iconic painterly world, rich with meaning and intrigue, but his humour ensures that we stop just short of taking it and ourselves too seriously. In this exhibition, Sight-Seer , we can appreciate the play on words as we travel through the paintings, engaging with them visually first, and then with our minds. With unparalleled draughtsmanship, Gordon creates images that are immediately compelling due to their illusion of reality. When the obvious technical process is removed however, something puzzling, witty, often provocative, and always memorable, becomes apparent. Now we really see! The exhibition also features several paintings in which the subject matter is, upon first sight, typical of a sightseer’s view, but which very quickly offer up another vision, and an opportunity to question and reflect upon the world we live in today. Future postcards from our present time perhaps. If the immediate experience of Gordon’s paintings is visual, and the secondary, cerebral, what strikes me when I spend time with his paintings is the way that they engage emotions. Poignant and human, they explore the quirks and intimacies of relationships. Gordon’s use of colour and symbolism is quietly uplifting and hopeful; he chooses to paint so beautifully cracked pots, woods with aged patinas, lovers, birds, butterflies, and fruit, so often in pairs. And of course, the eggs – long standing symbols of birth and renewal. With warmth and sensitivity, Gordon paints the small unspoken moments between people, the moments that often slip through the cracks, and the relationships that stand the test of time and are all the more beautiful for it. Of course, these are my thoughts and my words. Gordon simply says: ‘There is no point in copying what I see. I would be bored. I like painting what I would love to see’. Witty, irreverent, warm, and almost always self- effacing, Gordon’s company is as enjoyable as his paintings, which last year’s crowds of collectors, friends, family and former students attested to. We finish this introduction with his answer to one of my many practical questions about this year’s exhibition: ‘It’s your exhibition Eileadh, I just paint the silly pictures’. We hope you will join us at the Private View, for a lively and stimulating evening with this incredible artist and his silly (?) pictures.
Eileadh Swan Gallery Director
ORANGES AND LEMONS Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
RIPE AND READY Oil on Canvas | £1550 Framed Size: 40 x 40 cm
LITTLE NIBBLES Oil on Canvas | £1550 Framed Size: 40 x 40 cm
BREAK DANCE Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 79 x 94 cm
EVER AFTER Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 56 x 66 cm
SUZIE TONGUE AND SIMON GROOVE Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 40 x 55 cm
ENCORE Oil on Canvas | £9750 Framed Size: 120 x 77 cm
VIVALDI Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 79 x 94 cm
FANTAS I E Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
BUTTERFLY EFFECT Oil on Canvas | £5750 Framed Size: 74 x 89 cm
WALL FLOWER Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 66 x 56 cm
SAY A LITTLE PRAYER Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 55 x 45 cm
RED HOT Oil on Canvas | £16,000 Framed Size: 120 x 120 cm
SHIMMERING LIGHT, CUILLIN Oil on Canvas | £800 Framed Size: 33 x 33 cm
LUCKY IN LOVE Oil on Canvas | £5350 Framed Size: 76 x 67 cm
EARLY MORNING VENICE Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
SCAREDY CRAW Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
ECHO CHAMBER Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 45 x 56 cm
VENETIAN ILLUSION Oil on Canvas | £3250 Framed Size: 41 x 66 cm
WAITING IN THE WINGS Oil on Canvas | £9250 Framed Size: 109 x 94 cm
FRIENDS AND LOVERS Oil on Canvas | £5350 Framed Size: 76 x 66 cm
PANELLISTS Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 56 x 46 cm
SOUND OF JURA Oil on Canvas | £16,000 Framed Size: 139 x 109 cm
SIX FOR GOLD Oil on Canvas | £9250 Framed Size: 109 x 94 cm
LIGHT RECALL Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 56 x 66 cm
LOOKING BACK Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 46 x 56 cm
TWENTY ONE Oil on Canvas | £15,000 Framed Size: 120 x 109 cm
SETTLERS Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 56 x 66 cm
STATIC CARAVAN Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 66 x 56 cm
TRANSITION Oil on Canvas | £12,000 Framed Size: 119 x 94 cm
SPRING CLEANING Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
ASYLUM SEEKERS Oil on Canvas | £17,250 Framed Size: 139 x 120 cm
HATCHL ING Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 45 x 56 cm
CATS CAN DREAM Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 56 x 66 cm
MOTHER GOOSE Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
BLUE MOON Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 96 x 79 cm
WINTER WONDERLAND Oil on Canvas | £17,250 Framed Size: 139 x 120 cm
S IBL INGS Oil on Canvas | £1950 Framed Size: 46 x 41 cm
LOVE APPLES Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 56 x 66 cm
MORNING APPEAL Oil on Canvas | £6950 Framed Size: 94 x 79 cm
L IMEL IGHT Oil on Canvas | £4250 Framed Size: 66 x 56 cm
MINI DRESS Oil on Canvas | £5350 Framed Size: 66 x 76 cm
PUFFIN “MOSS” Oil on Canvas | £3150 Framed Size: 56 x 46 cm
GORDON MITCHELL RSA RSW RGI
Born in 1952, Gordon Mitchell grew up exploring his passion for art and attended Edinburgh College of Art from 1970 - 1974. After a career in teaching, he began painting full time in 1989. Gordon is an elected Member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour (1997), the Royal Glasgow Institute (1998) and the Royal Scottish Academy (2005). Prizes and Awards include; City Arts Centre, Open Exhibition, First Prize; Royal Scottish Academy Award, First Prize; Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour; William Gillies Award; Scottish Drawing Competition, Paisley, Second Prize; Royal Scottish Academy, J. Murray Thompson Award Gordon’s works are held in a great many private and public collections, including; Edinburgh College of Art; Educational Institute for Scotland; Johnny Walker Whisky Co; Kansas City Art Institute; Macfarlane Group Plc, National Westminster Bank; Paisley Art Institute; Scottish Arts Council; Scottish Brewers Limited; The Knesset, Israel; University of Edinburgh; Welcome Inns; Whyte & Mackay Group and William Teacher & Sons.
All paintings are for sale and may be purchased or reserved upon receipt of this catalogue. We kindly request that decisions on reserves are made before noon on Friday the 27th of September.
MORNINGSIDE GALLERY 94 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4BY 0131 447 3041 art@morningsidegallery.co.uk www.morningsidegallery.co.uk
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