Alisdair Grey at GOMA

It was an interesting experience viewing the work of Alisdair Grey. His work is dominated by strong graphic images illustrating fantastic and fanciful themes carefully constructed.

 Grey was born in Glasgow in 1934, studied at Glasgow School of Art, and has pretty much lived there ever since. the city has had a profound effect on him and is the subject of much of his work. In the 60’s he worked as artist in residence for the People’s Palace recording Glasgow and it’s people.

There is an air of detachment throughout all Grey’s work. He is very much the voyeur, standing outside of the drama. He seems more interested in the setting than the figures. Within much of his work there are self portraits. These portraits show a lean, carefully detailed character, when other figures are often simple line drawings Infact, Grey is often the most detailed figure in his work, is this a sign of his self obsession or just a lack of interest in everyone else? Interestingly his studies of Glasgow demonstrate meticulous attention, are lovingly observed and drawn with great sympathy.

His portraits have a strong two dimensional quality, using areas of flat colour. The pencil marks left to show through any colour. I find it intriguing that often only parts of his work are coloured; this adds emphasis to some areas, and perhaps suggests that we are all works ‘in progress’.

Some of his work contains significant areas of text. This may be a refrence to his literary interests, but I seem to find it distracts from the primary image. I enjoy some caligraphy in work, especially where it adds texture and some simple refrence. Grey’s text seems to be  there to support or add to the picture. However you have to ask yourself if visual art shouldn’t be able to ‘stand alone’ and that the musings of the artist should be accessed in some other way.

Grey obviously loves architecture, and especially the architecture of Glasgow. Having been a student in Glasgow in the 80’s I was particularly drawn to his large pencil drawings of familiar scenes. He likes to draw places where the roads meet, where old meets new(then!), young meets old. All in all this was a stimulating exhibition, helping me to question my own involvement with my direct environment and the figures within it, and how I give priority to certain elements within my work.