Twin sculptures from Aberdeen Art Gallery’s collection are the inspiration for an exhibition of new works by Members of Aberdeen Artists Society.
The exhibition, Into the Light, opens to the public at Aberdeen Art Gallery on Saturday 24 January.
The 14 exhibiting artists have created new works in response to Into the Light Blue and Into the Light Crimson by Keith Rand RSA (1956-2013). Rand’s sculptures have prompted a rich and varied selection of responses which explore his time living and working in the North-east, his sculptural philosophy and his techniques in wood, colour and form. Rand taught sculpture at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen and also worked as a technician at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop (SSW) in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire.
Working mainly in wood, he used native timbers which reflected his interest in environmental matters. He favoured non-gallery settings for his work and many were sited in rural locations across the UK, including National Trust properties, Winchester Cathedral, Grizedale Forest in Cumbria and Tyrebagger, Aberdeenshire.
In the catalogue for the SSW's 4th Annual Sculpture Open, held in 1987 at Kildrummy Castle, Rand wrote: “I am a constructor foremost, not a carver or a modeller – what concerns me the most is the way an object is put together and I find building and manufacturing skills of great interest.” Rand became a Royal Scottish Academician in 2005.
Councillor Martin Greig, Aberdeen City Council’s culture spokesperson, said: "This new exhibition illustrates the remarkable breadth and variety of approaches to art making amongst the membership of Aberdeen Artists Society.
"It’s wonderful to see artworks from Aberdeen’s collection being used as creative inspiration for new works. This latest exhibition at the Art Gallery by members of AAS is a fascinating exploration of the many ways artists can respond to the same point of inspiration, in this case, Keith Rand’s thought-provoking and beautiful sculptures.”
Amanda Hirst of Aberdeen Artists Society, said: “Into the Light continues the path of artistic development we have been exploring in our 2022 and 2023 exhibitions at the Art Gallery.
"This time, the exhibition presents each artist’s response to the same source subject. Within the exhibition, we aim to demonstrate the wide variety of interpretation that is open to an artist, and to show how diverse the range of outcomes can be, based on the personal relationship that each artist builds with the subject during their individual creative process.”
The exhibiting artists are: Corri Black, Ann Bowes, Shelagh Brown, Volha Druhakova, Melanie Guatelli, Amanda Hirst, Rita Kermack, Nicole Luchita, Alisa Magnus, Sue Savege, John Snelling, Bruce Swanson, Courtney Szabo, Fenneke Wolters-Sinke