IAN McCULLOCH

I am interested in the tradition of large-scale figure composition which has come down to us from classical and renaissance times. My aim has been to establish a personal visual language by marrying aspects of these traditions with the discoveries of modernism, elements of which were still active in my formative years as a painter. In pursuance of this, I work on large unprimed canvases, usually consisting of sections bolted together which enable me to deploy human figures at larger than life sizes. I have also developed a method of painting the final works from previously prepared cartoons. Scenes and dramatic settings are used which seek to excite the eye while at the same time engaging the intellect. Allied to this, I have developed an interest in the use of myth as subject matter. Myths can be recycled to suggest continuity with the past while also serving as metaphors to lay bare the underlying realities of contemporary life.

In addition to working as a painter, I began in the 1980s to experiment with printmaking. In making relief prints, I find that the inherent intransigence of a woodblock, which necessitates the use of chisels driven by a mallet to create a line, gives me access to images, particularly when the blocks are inked in black, which are starker and harsher than can be readily achieved through the medium of paint. Since such images readily lend themselves to reproduction and transmission, they may have the capacity to reach a wide audience.

Much of our knowledge of the past has come down to us in the form of fragmented images, many of which have an enigmatic, poetic quality deriving in part from their fragmented form. I now collect pieces of used materials from urban sites and beaches. These materials, which have been previously cut and shaped for useful purposes, I incise with figurative images mimicking the fragmenting process imposed by the passage of time. There is also at this stage an intention to introduce an element of surprise and also a comment upon our profligate use of natural resources. These materials display the marks, shape and wear of their previous purpose. It is frequently impossible, due to the texture and irregular shape of the blocks, to cut whole images into the surfaces. In consequence, when proofed, what can emerge from the block is an apparent amalgam of order and chaos but this is of course contrived. It is a fiction.

Fragments of images from the prints are now beginning to infiltrate the paintings. They are also beginning to appear in the ceramics which I am beginning to work upon. The thread which binds the making of my paintings, prints and ceramics together is my need to make pictorial, figurative, visual images which attempt to speak of the times we live in.

Contact:

Home: 51 Victoria Road, Lenzie, Glasgow G66 5AP, Scotland;
Tel: 0141 776 1053

Contact: Fine Art Fellow, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde, Rotten Row, Glasgow G1, Scotland
Tel (Direct): 0141 548 3023 Fax: 0141 552 3997
E-mail: ian@mccullochstudio.fsnet.co.uk

Biography and Exhibitions

1935
Born in Glasgow

1953-57
Studied Drawing and Painting, Glasgow School of Art

1957-58
Awarded Royal Scottish Academy Travelling Scholarship - Visited Gibraltar and Southern Spain

1958
Founder Member of Young Glasgow Group of artists

1959
First Solo Exhibition, Blythswood Gallery, Gallery

1961
Took part, with other Glasgow Group artists, in exhibition Count Down, in protest against establishment of Polaris base at Faslane on Clyde Estuary

1964
Elected Professional Member of Society of Scottish Artists

1967
Scottish Arts Council Award

1967
Joins staff of School of Architecture, University of Strathclyde

1972
Scottish Arts Council Award

1976
Appointed Artist in Residence, University of Sussex

1985
Awarded lst Prize, Stirling Smith Biennial Art Competition

1989
Elected Associate of Royal Scottish Academy

1989-90
Winner of Glasgow International Concert Hall Mural Competition

1989
Mural paintings commissioned for Italian Centre, Glasgow

1994-
Fine Art Fellow, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Recent Solo Exhibitions

1984
Artspace Galleries, Aberdeen

1986
Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh and tour

1986
Camden Arts Centre, London

1987
Odette Gilbert Gallery, London and tour

1989
Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow

1991
The Return of Agamemnon and Other Paintings, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, University College Wales, Aberystwyth

1991-92
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen

1994
Relief Prints, Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen 1994 and tour

Selected Group Exhibitions

1963-64
Twentieth Century Scottish Painting, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, an Arts Council of Great Britain Touring Exhibiton

1964
Scottish Painters Plus or Minus 30, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

1965
Commonwealth Arts Festival, Glasgow

1965
Contemporary Scottish Painters, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

1966
Grosvenor Gallery, London

1966
Structure '66, National Museum of Wales

1968
Qirtach Tas, Dublin

1968
Scottish Painting

1968
Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh

1968-69
Three Centuries of Scottish Painting, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

1969
New Tendencies in Scottish Painting, Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh

1971
Art Spectrum, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh and tour

1973
Perth Festival Exhibition

1975
Mall Gallery, London

1978
Painters in Parallel, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh

1985
Stirling Smith Biennial, Stirling

1985
Warwick Arts Trust, London

1986
Reed Stremmel Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

1986-88
Chicago, Los Angeles and London Art Fairs

1988
Graven Image: Art, Religion and Politics, Harris Art Gallery, Preston

1988
Glasgow Printmakers, Berlin

1989-90
John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

1990
New North, Tate Gallery Liverpool and tour

1992
Unique and Original, Glasgow Print Studio and tour

1992
Alter Ego/Self-Portrait, Glasgow Print Studio and tour

1993
Scottish Painting, Flowers East Gallery, London

1995
Calanais, An Lanntair Gallery, Stornoway, Lewis and tour

1995
Scottish Printmaking, Galerie Beeldspraak, Amsterdam

1996
Peacock 21, Aberdeen Art Gallery

1996
Day of the Dead, Glasgow Print Studio and Galeria Otra Vez, Los Angeles

1996
Small is Beautiful, Flowers East Gallery

1996
Brave Art, Smith Art Gallery, Stirling

1997
Modern Scottish Graphics, Galerija Loskega Muzeja, Skofja Loka, Slovenia and tour

1998
Scottish Spirit, Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, USA and tour

1998
Celtic Connections, Yorozu Tetsugoro Museum, Towa, Japan

1999
Scottish Painting, Albemarle Gallery, London

1999
On a Plate, Glasgow Print Studio

Public Collections:

City Art Gallery, Edinburgh; Universities of Glasgow, Liverpool and Strathclyde; Perth Town Council; Contemporary Arts Society, London; Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow; Dundee Art Gallery; Stirling Smith Art Gallery; Royal Scottish Academy, Saatchi Collection, London

Selected Bibliography

Anthony Tucker, 'Scottish Painting', The Guardian, 15 August 1963.
David Irwin, 'A Revived Glasgow School', Scottish Art Review Vol. IX No.4, 1964, p.4. Helen Kapp, Curator, Twentieth Century Scottish Painting, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Catalogue Entry.
Edward Gage, The Eye in the Wind: Scottish Painting Since 1945 (London: Collins, 1977), pp.55-6.
Cordelia Oliver, Introduction to Catalogue for Painters in Parallel, August 1978.
Ian McCulloch, Introduction to ARTSPACE Exhibition catalogue, Aberdeen, October l985.
- - - - Introduction to Odette Gilbert Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, London, February/March l986.
Waldemar Januszcak, 'Creation without a Trace of Shame', Guardian 8 February l986.
Edward Gage, 'Protest Imagery Writ Large', Scotsman l0 February l986.
Sarah Kent, 'Scotch Myths', Time Out 20 February l986, p.34.
Richard Demarco, Introduction to Catalogue for Solo Exhibition, Camden Arts Centre, London 1986.
Stewart Lamont, 'Why we go on tilting against the windmill', Glasgow Herald, 25 January, 1986.
Peter Fischer, 'Kunstmarkt', Die Kunst l986, p.606.
Clare Henry, Introduction to Catalogue for Exhibition in Odette Gilbert Gallery, Cork Street, London February l987.
William Packer, 'Recognition Overdue for Painters Painters', Financial Times l7 March l987.
Sarah Kent, 'Great Scot', Time Out l8 March l987, p.3l.
Clare Henry, Arts Review 27 March l987.
Sarah Kent, 'Ian McCulloch at Odette Gilbert' Flash Art May l987.
Snowdon, 'Ian McCulloch's Hands l986', Stills 1984-1987 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, l987), p.l48.
Hattie Coppard, The Wedding, Exhibition Catalogue, Mappin Art Gallery 1988, p.7.
Ian McCulloch, Introduction to Glasgow Print Studio Exhibition Catalogue, Glasgow, February l989.
Emilio Coia, 'Artist at Peak of Virtuoso Painting', Scotsman 17 February 1989.
Sarah Kent, 'Deep Frieze' 20/20 August l989, p.28.
Ian McCulloch, Catalogue Entry, John Moores Liverpool l989 Exhibition, Liverpool l989.
- - - - 'Scots Visual Art and Calvinist Neglect', Sunday Times Scotland 28 January l990, p.5.
- - - - 'A Free Society with its Back to the Wall', Sunday Times Scotland l6 December l990. - - - - 'Turning a Culture Around', Cencrastus, Winter l990/9l, pp.l9-2l.
Ted Hickey, Introduction to Catalogue for New North Exhibition, Tate Gallery Liverpool, May 1990, pp.40-1.
Cyril Gerber, 'The Compass Contribution', May 1990.
Clare Henry, 'Fury in ArtsWorld as Lally rejects Murals', Glasgow Herald, 12 December 1990.
David Harding, 'Murmurs . . . for walls with tongues' Glasgow Herald 22 December 1990, p.7.
Roland Miller, 'Art and Socialism Don't Mix', Alba: Scotland's Visual Arts Magazine, January 1991, p.3.
Henry Lydiate & James Odling-Smee, 'Nothing is Forever', Art Monthly, June 1991, p.33.
Duncan MacMillan, Scottish Art 1460-1990 (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, l990), p.404.
Ian McCulloch, 'Artist's Page', Alba June/July, 1991, p.20.
- - - - Introduction to 'The Return of Agamemnon and Other Paintings' Catalogue, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, March l99l.
Anne Wishart, The Society of Scottish Artists: The First 100 Years (Edinburgh: Society of Scottish Artists, 1991), p.46.
David Petts, '(Re)Presenting the Artist', Gallery Education and The New Art History, ACGB, 1991, p.46.
Ian McCulloch, Cover image and illustrations (l0) for A Real Glasgow Archipelago by Jack Withers (Argyll Publishing, l993)
Arthur Watson, Introduction to Catalogue for Relief Prints Solo Exhibition, Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen 1994.
Keith Sinclair, 'Murals Offers Morals', The Herald, 3 March 1994.
Ian McCulloch, 'Woodcutting and Living with Doubt', Cencrastus, Autumn 1994, p.26.
- - - - 'The Pagan Stones of Calanais', Calanais Exhibition Catalogue, An Lanntair Gallery, Stornoway, March 1995, p.54.
Alan Woods, Introduction to Peacock 21: A Celebration of 21 Years, Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen, 1996.
Ian McCulloch, 'Elegy for Franz Marc', Southfields, Southfields Press, 1998.
- - - - 'Censorship in a Cold Climate: A Case History', Proceedings of the 17th Bartlett International Summer School Conference, 1995, Glasgow 1998, p.93.
- - - - The Artist in his World with Eight Descriptive poems by Alasdair Gray, Argyll Publishing, November 1998 [112 pages, 87 prints - 23 in colour, 64 b&w]