ALAN SHIPWAY

AS  studied History of Architecture at the University of Edinburgh (1974-1978) and attended the postgraduate Advanced Painting course at St.Martin’s School of Art in London (1978-79). 

One-person exhibitions have included the Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh (2021), the Briggait, Glasgow (2018), Galerie Weissraum, Kyoto (2013), the Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (2005) and the Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh (2002). 

Work has been included in many group exhibitions, most recently in Makeshift (Summerhall, Edinburgh, 2023), Scottish Art: People, Places, Ideas (Edinburgh, City Art Centre, 2015), Drawn Away Together (Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, 2013), abstractcritical’s Newcomer Awards 2012 (King’s Place, London), Beyond Appearances (Edinburgh, City Art Centre 2007) and the John Moores 23 (Liverpool 2004).   It is represented in the collections of the University of Edinburgh and the City of Edinburgh Art Centre, and in the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.

He received awards from the Scottish Arts Council, one of them a 12-month bursary,and was awarded a writing residency in 2011 by abstractcritical.com.  Published writings have included reviews of the Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman catalogues raisonné.

On the Practice of Painting

Anything can be painted without representation       (Agnes Martin)

I prefer to make art with the simplest of means, with clarity and economy – nothing lacking, nothing superfluous.  Simplicity and directness in themselves have always provided me with the right path.

What also interests me is painting which I would describe as open-ended, which seems to expose the mechanisms of painting itself, or brings into question its own conventions, in such a way that what is left is some aesthetic essential.  To arrive at this essence, or to see it in other art, is invariably an experience of clarity and lucidity.

The goal is to have exactly what is necessary to achieve the work, no more, no less.

(Carl Andre)