Geoff Uglow | The Ploughman

GEOFF UGLOW THE PLOUGHMAN

GEOFF UGLOW THE PLOUGHMAN 6–29 January 2022

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Foreword A Rose-bud By My Early Walk, 1787

The Scottish Gallery welcomes back Geoff Uglow

by Robert Burns

for his fourth one-person exhibition with us over the last ten years. He graduated from Glasgow

A Rose-bud by my early walk,

School of Art in 2000 and still credits his time at

Adown a corn-enclosed bawk,

College as a grounding in painting – the pursuit

Sae gently bent its thorny stalk,

of a vocation in something that matters. Uglow

All on a dewy morning.

is a painter for the ages, uncompromising and

Ere twice the shades o’ dawn are fled,

original, his work a love poem to the natural

In a’ its crimson glory spread,

world; only by looking, seeing and responding

And drooping rich the dewy head,

with our senses and emotions may we accord the

It scents the early morning.

respect nature needs from its dominant species.

He has responded to a series of questions in this publication, giving insights into his formation as an artist, reflection which brought The Ploughman forward as a title for the exhibition, and giving a fascinating explanation of what, where and even how he paints. Many will remember his first exhibition at The Gallery: Letters from Barra, a body of work made on paper over a winter on the island and, in The Ploughman, he has included an exquisite group of small watercolours which capture the romance and awe of the open ocean.

His oil painting has the physical presence of sculpture, but his subject is often ephemeral: the movement of a wave, the bloom of the growing rose, the dusty heat of an Italian roadway. While the work will always stand for itself, his poetic commentary gives us a unique way into his processes: intellectual rigour and instinct; studio and exterior; influence and inspiration; scale and medium; familiarity and the urge for new.

Guy Peploe

Geoff Uglow, Cornwall, 2021 3

The Ploughman I Geoff Uglow The Ploughman. How did you come to this title for

It is man’s influence on the land. It represents the

this new body of work?

beginning and the end of a cycle of cultivation. The harvest is done, and the new seed is yet to be planted.

A few years ago, I was painting on the island of

As a boy, I would often plough on the family

Barra and I had taken only one book to read over

farm and I would keenly observe the furrow cut and

the duration of my stay. It was a book about the life

turned, mesmerised by the light reflecting off the

of Robert Burns. It spoke about his early years on

damp soil. I would witness this motion poetically

his father’s farm from where he could see the sea.

reflected in the sea too when a great swell of the

He would thresh grain for the day’s needs, tend the

water is torn by the break or divided by the rip

horses, milk the cows, and plough, which he was

current, or even when the still surface is scored by

good at. Life was built upon principle, and the days’

the paddle of an oar. When I make a painting this

routine of hard work. Things very familiar to me in

process of matter being moved appears again.

my own upbringing.

My hand or brush manipulates the mass of paint,

I was raised on a farm in North Cornwall with

driving, turning, arranging, influencing it. I feel an

generations of farmers before me on my father’s

affinity with Robert Burns since he himself was a

side. Farming heritage, convention and the old ways

farmer’s son and a ploughman. He drew experience

embodied values held with a deep respect.

from the land he lived in, but also channelled those

I remember the thresher and the horse ploughs in

early experiences and strong emotional highs and

the rookery and my father riding horses bareback

lows into his poetry.

across the fields. I was educated in the ways of, the rhythm of, farming life as I grew up, witnessing the

How do you believe you came to be a painter?

changing of the seasons and how all my country life was linked inextricably to it. My painting draws a

I was a restless child, too much energy, and nowhere

harvest from the land and sea, the Atlantic ever-

to place it until I found painting.

changing and present. In the winter I am drawn to the sea which is only a very short distance from

I’m not sentimental about my past. I’m more interested in the works to be made and the future.

my studio; all the warm colour drains from the

My family were quite Victorian in many ways.

landscape and everything becomes black and white

I wanted to be liberated… to be free from any kind

and grey. In the spring and summer, the subject of

of yoke. When I went to Glasgow, to art school,

the garden takes over. Swollen growth buds appear

I felt that yoke lifted. I grew up with security, and all

on the trees, the melody of blossom appears and

the wholesome things family life can bring. When

the roses bloom and so this governs my time.

I left home, I was searching for anything but that.

The plough is the implement used in farming that draws over the soil and turns it. It cuts furrows in the earth, in preparation for the planting of seeds.

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I wanted adventure and freedom.

It is important that my themes and subjects are simple and accessible; they usually suggest

something observed in nature. They are grand

are found everywhere in the natural world; energy

and romantic themes. For me they are the perfect

travelling through matter, be that the turning of

subjects on which to hang these universal themes

the soil by the plough, blooms forming as the rose

that express the human condition – especially love.

opens to the sunlight, the orbicular halo of light

The act of painting employs many skills. It is

encircling a full moon, the branching tributaries of

cerebral, it uses emotions and technical expertise

a tree, the amplitude and frequency of a wave – all

but for me, it must also be physical. Especially

dynamic systems within which we find both order

where the larger paintings are concerned, physical

and chaos.

exertion is involved. The studio is a place of hard

In the spring and summer I’m drawn to my rose

work – stretch canvases all day and your fingers

garden and the garden in general, really. Beyond the

can bleed. Paintings are physical objects that must

rose garden is the fruit orchard and then the land

be moved – out into the landscape, or around the

falls away into a valley where a river runs, and it is

studio. They will be hung upon a wall – they must be

all good material for painting. On the other side of

handled. Works on board can become very heavy

the valley are the fields I sometimes used to plough.

indeed. I mix paint in buckets – not in small amounts.

But because of the danger in the steepness of

Paintings are made by laying the canvas down flat,

them, and for fear of a tractor rolling over, my father

usually on the floor. They cannot be painted upright

changed its use and we – my parents, my siblings

because of the sheer amount of wet paint used.

and I – planted a wood there instead. The wood is

It would simply fall off. Much crouching and bending

the view I have from my studio windows and the

and stretching is involved. The pressure and tempo

colour and texture of it changes magically over the

of my own hand must be upon it, and detectable

course of the year. The colour from afar represents

to the viewer. The energy of my own body creates

the season. Blackthorn blossom, the fern going over

it in a moment in time that can never be repeated.

to a rust colour, larch in vivid green bud.

In a western world where everything is designed

All the natural scenery around my studio

to make life easier, I respect and relate more to the

holds important features for painting, but the rose

ploughman of the past who wrestled and grappled

continues to be a key emblem. I paint my roses

with life and the challenges it brought.

every year when they bloom from April through to

What are the most important subjects for

sweet colour hovering splendidly. Less green at

November. Even in December some remain; their painting?

that time of year, more a background of silver and fawn, winter-woodiness, and maybe a vibrant

The tree, the sun, the sea, a rose, light; there seems

little bloom singing operatically within it. The rose

to be little about my work that doesn’t involve the

reconnects me to the growing season, to the time

phenomena of the physical world – my place in it,

when there were more hours of daylight. Dark

how I steward it, how I affect it and how it affects me.

winter weather can be frustrating. Since light is

It’s usually there in one form or another.

such an important factor in my work, a lack of it has

There are recurring themes unifying most of

implications. Perhaps that is why I feel the need to

the subjects I choose to study. These motifs have

travel – like a plant bending towards the strongest

a shared character of never-ending, self-similar

light, I will move to the place where I can absorb

pattern – circularity perhaps. Patterns of energy

the most.

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Light is the essence of life itself. Without light there is nothing. Nothing lives, nothing grows.

It allows us to see and experience the world that

culture, inspiring personal interpretation.

It is a single figure overflowing with historical symbolism. It represents many things including

surrounds us by distinguishing its details. It has a

love, power, royalty, beauty, sensuality, femininity,

profound impact on us as human beings in terms

romance, passion, purity, holiness, wisdom, joy,

of physiology, biology and of course psyche. It is the

sacrifice, gratitude, grace, admiration, courage; even

main source of energy for all living organisms and

death and rebirth as viewed by the Romans. It is a

provides the warmth of our atmosphere and rhythm

figure that has been so overloaded with meanings

in our lives. Light intensity and light duration can

over the centuries that it has no single locked-in

affect what my paintings become. I don’t live in a

meaning at all, and so I feel I can freely claim it for

built-up area – I am very aware of whether the moon

my own purposes. And I do. The figure of the rose

is waxing or waning, am alert to the opening and

will effortlessly assume any combination of colour

closing of the day and I sense what the weather will

I choose to give it, and suits the sweeping lyrical

be like in the morning depending on the sunset.

brush marks that I like.

I choose to focus on subjects that are uplifting

Over time I have become most interested in the

and inspiring – bewildering natural phenomena,

emotion the rose conveys. I have images in my mind

human endeavour that inspires and delights and

always, of paintings I haven’t made yet. If an idea, a

provokes sublime thought and creativity. The world

feeling, or a combination of colours keeps coming

is full of chaos and suffering, but I won’t paint there.

back to my attention, then I will need to paint it out.

I prefer the remedy of beauty in love and nature

And that painting will inform another, and another,

found in the familiar. I always come back to things,

again and again. The more work you make the more

to build meaningful relationships, not only with

painting opportunities present themselves. Ideas for

people but also with nature and with the subjects

rose paintings never stop.

and locations I use for painting.

It takes a great deal of time to explore a subject

What stimulates the mind is the act of painting.

It’s a way of connecting all my senses. By painting

thoroughly through painting. I welcome new

I can capture things that are elusive and turn them

experiences always, but returning to the same

into something physical. Kiefer said, “Art is longing.

subjects again and again works well in a practical

You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope

sense. I can reconnect quickly with a subject I have

that you will.” Painting is the longing to see the

painted for a long time and that gives rise to a good

beauty and passion and joy of something seen or

flow of work. There is familiarity but the details and

experienced rendered into a physical object that

how I might respond are never the same.

can be kept.

Cézanne said “turn on your heel and you have a lifetime of work”. He also said painting from

Tell us something about your use of impasto

nature is not copying the object; it’s realizing

technique.

one’s sensations… That statement is relevant to all my painting, but perhaps to the rose paintings

The surface of a thick oil painting will flatten out the

especially. They are portraits of love in its many

further back from it you step – your eye loses the

guises, descriptions of love. The rose is an open

ability to read the surface of it and illusion takes over.

symbol, replete with possibility, available to any

The mind will try to make sense of the space that 7

these elements create. But move yourself very close

within it can be immense. And yet my eye can

to the surface and the illusion of space disappears.

interpret the whole surface in an instant. I can

You become aware of the body of the paint, the relief

make sense of the illusion from a single viewpoint.

of the surface. Your eye follows the undulations, and you sense the impression of the artist’s hand upon

I can paint a tiny image with a great deal of distance in it. My imagination is drawn through the

it. I like that. I like to see the evidence of a direct

notional window of the picture plane into the illusion

decision being made in the paint. Like a man’s

of space so effortlessly and pleasingly. But a large

plough decisively marking the earth. Watercolour

painting is quite a different journey. The dynamic is

is so thin and has a completely different personality.

different. The painting dominates you.

In comparison to the sizeable quantities of oil paint I use, watercolour is like breath, like breathing an

A large 210 by 180-centimetre painting, for example, envelopes you when you stand before it.

illusion onto paper. Oil paint is viscous and opaque

It can tower over you. It has an imposing power

and heavy by nature. It can be thick enough to bank

simply because it is a larger object than you.

up. I have thoroughly explored and exploited those

You are facing a giant. It is a sea of paint that

properties of paint to their limit in the past.

stretches wide into your peripheral vision.

I want an oil painting to be a very physical

The eye cannot look at the whole painting at

object by the time I’ve finished working with it.

once but only parts of it at a time. Interestingly,

I cannot afford to be tentative in the creation of it –

it has dimensions you could physically inhabit,

I must prepare very generous volumes of paint with

like a bed.

which to work. Only then can I lose myself in the

A large painting seen from a great distance

sensory experience of pulling my brush through the

becomes a small painting. If you place a large

body of it with uninterrupted flow and confidence.

canvas in the landscape, it becomes a miniature.

Given the background from which I came,

If I stand well back from a large painting, the space

I recognise myself as a physically driven person.

in it changes – it flattens out. Making a painting that

Handling large volumes of paint on large canvases

is bigger than you are is more physically challenging.

requires a physical effort and participation. That

How do you mark one corner of the canvas and

suits my character very well and comes naturally

reach the opposite side cleanly in one motion?

to me.

How to you keep a control over the development of the painting, if you can’t reach one end to the other

Variety of scale is important in a painting exhibition.

without walking several steps? Where you position

Is this something you consider when choosing

your own body will influence the mark you make

your format?

– its direction and weight. If you wish to create an illusion of space that suspends disbelief, then you

Scale of a painting is curious. When painting a

must consider from where and from what angle you

canvas that is larger than you are, you paint with

approach the canvas. You might keep circling it, for

your whole body as opposed to with the wrist or

example, painting the canvas from all angles. You

from the elbow. A 15 by 17-centimetre painting

might even build a frame over it, that will support

can be carried around with you in your bag. It feels

your weight, so that you can apply paint from above.

precious, intimate…but the power it must stir the

Also, a larger canvas might require the use of a

senses can defy its physical size – the illusory space

much larger brush.

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Painting on a large scale allows you to indulge

that the painting is permeated with emotion. It is the

more in the language of paint itself. The image can

description of colour and light in a painting which

become irrelevant. When your face is close

possesses the emotional potential.

enough to the painted surface, it’s like reading a map or floating above a landscape like a bird.

The warmth of the southern climate of Italy brings the tonal value and the saturation of the

You might read a confluence of marks meandering

palette much closer together. The light can bleach

their way towards a still pool. Tributaries of colour

out the contrast. There is harsh contrast at certain

will converge or diverge. A strong natural light

times of day, but the shadows still have a warmth.

might illuminate puffs of pearlescent pigment. Veils

Heat is sovereign in the spring and summer.

of blue iridescence can glow over an area like an

It mercilessly forces itself upon every part of the

apparition or a will-o-the-wisp. Very thin washes of

landscape, it saturates everything, even the colour

pigment and turps can set like the bloom on soft

in the shadows. Shadows hover. Summer heat in

fruit. Thick paint can be turned, folded, piled up,

the United Kingdom rarely burns your feet as you

layered, spread… to render valleys, and elevations.

walk over the earth but come midday in Italy and

Colour can accumulate in low-lying areas, basins,

you cannot touch a rock outside for the heat of it.

canyons. There is folding and faulting in the

That rock, painted, will be hot too which is achieved

structure of the paint, and some textures can be

by mixing warmth of colour into your palette. There

seen to have been compressed by the weight of

is a lot of looking and mixing to understand how to

overlying material. Excavations from the top surface

convey such a thing well. Corot is a perfect example

down to the base stratum can reveal hidden coats layered down long before. Harmony or discord is

of an artist whose work shows this understanding – how painting in different locations changes

perceived depending on which colours meet and

everything about your painting, all the terms of

in what quantities. The eye will recognise pressure

it – light, space, colour, mood, mark – everything.

applied and retracted, changing velocity of stroke

We see the atmosphere change in Corot’s paintings.

and intrusions of a sharp, whipped mark. Some

Look at his French paintings and you will see a

pigment separates from its carrier oil and seems to

silvery quality in them, much closer to the winter

crystallise as it ages.

light of Scotland or Cornwall. The mid-tone of the

What has Italy offered you as an artist?

almost all the time. But Corot’s small Roman studies

painting is knocked down and has a grey cast to it have the palette of a Morandi still life.

In this country we do not experience the same

Turner dealt with Italian light wonderfully.

intensity of colour and light that can be found there.

The quality of light in his paintings is most often

Here we have a temperate climate – a northern light.

southern. Even when he made paintings of England,

This brings about the relative colour on the palette.

he kept with him that knowledge of intense,

Italy is so different in climate and light. Travelling

dissolving southern light. The kind of light that

between here and there repeatedly, makes me

dissolves form – it dissolves the edges of things.

conscious of the significant differences between

I see this in his watercolours especially. Whereas

them. Accumulating knowledge of colour and light

Constable didn’t travel abroad. His paintings

in all its variations is a most fundamental element

are quintessentially English, very distinguished

in the practice of painting. This knowledge ensures

observations of the English landscape. The light and 11

palette is northern. Rarely in the British landscape

with trying to figure out these feelings at the same

do we see that intensity of light that Turner often

time as painting. This element, the emotion, is surely

displays. In Britain, the sky is usually the lightest

the buried treasure of any painting. Whether in Italy,

tone. Only on a thundery day is it not. In Italy

or here or wherever, painting a landscape, a flower,

however, it is the light reflecting off the buildings

or a tree – whatever the scene – my emotional

and the rocks, tufo and marble, that make them the

response will affect how the pressure of my hand

brightest features.

moves across the surface of the canvas. When

The amount of light your eye is absorbing is so

beginning the study of a new or unknown landscape,

very different from one country to the next and

I suppress my energy somewhat. My pace and

I love the contrast – observing, documenting, and

handling is slow and considered. I am humble

experiencing the differences is an education, and a

before my subject. I let it dominate me. Then as

very rewarding practice. It means of course that

time passes and I become more familiarised with it,

I have more tools to use by which to express things

and more receptive to its voice, my pace quickens,

that are metaphysical or sensorial. The language of

becomes more assertive, more assured. In the

light and colour that has come directly from nature

end, I have become so familiar with the nuances of

renders thoughts and feelings into a universal one.

When Corot was working in Italy, he kept

the scene that I can respond instantaneously to a momentary change of light on a surface, or breeze

his painting within a very accurate range of

through it and can paint an impression of it with

observations. He was not inventing. Both Constable

the grace it deserves. Having assimilated enough

and Corot allow the observation of the landscape

information, I will meet the landscape. In due course

to dominate the painting. Whereas Turner, in a very

my authority within the dialogue levels up with the

sophisticated way, exaggerates his observations

view I am painting. Whatever the landscape says,

of light in the landscape to an extent. This is

I can echo it. I’ve absorbed enough information that

interesting to me. These artists have taught me

I can respond to the landscape. My eye, my hand

much about observation and invention and I avail

and my heart have absorbed enough pictorial and

myself of both approaches, sliding between the two.

emotive information that painting becomes purely

Being British and painting Italy means entering

instinctive. It pours out spontaneously and cleanly.

a very different conversation. It raises so many

One cannot fake or force this, or even experience

more questions and issues and painting challenges,

this the same way twice. This remarkable exchange

all which hone, purify, shape and increase my

only happens when I am in front of the thing I’m

knowledge and ability as a painter.

painting.

Can you comment on the transformation from the

painting in the studio is a different process.

physical to the metaphysical in painting?

A feeling, a palette, a colour will stay in my mind.

The studio paintings are different. Making a

And I will paint a remnant of it. Studio paintings As I make a painting, I’m not only observing a

are the painted remains of one of those profound

landscape and depicting it. A landscape seen at a

experiences of observation. It’s what I retained.

particular moment in your life, in a particular season

I get lost within the painting itself and draw upon the

and time of day, will fill you with an abundance of

remembered experience which was real and very

sensations and sentiments. You become involved

honestly felt, and then paint. What takes over is the

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‘moving through’ of the painting itself. The painted

all these details, these agents, affect light and colour

object itself becomes the experience for me. I am in

and change one’s palette. Deciphering it all, making

conversation with it. I am reacting to my own marks

sense of it as you paint is a complex process that

instead of a landscape. I am reacting to colour I have

requires some dedication and focus.

chosen to mix. I am reacting to how my own brush

Different locations mean whole, new,

pulls through wet paint – what mark that makes.

unexperienced combinations of natural phenomena

I am constructing the space.

to work from. I am awakened and stimulated by

The studio process is more in line with classical painting perhaps, like an altarpiece, like Pontormo or

the challenges different locations of the world present. Stand still on one spot for three weeks

Titian. All those studies that were made before feed

and paint all day, every day: what you are looking at,

into it. Perhaps a studio painting is like a ruin.

(painting), will not be the same from one second to

I am interested in painting ruins in Italy – where

the next; that’s a lot of paintings right there. Not one

man’s endeavours of the past meet the usurping

will be the same. Move to a different location, and

power of nature. It’s pieces of things – pieces of

you begin discovering and wrestling with a whole

colour, parts, portions of sentiment, thoughts

new torrent of information. That simple attitude

overturned – a welter of memories all woven

and approach usually results in the production of

together to create an image of the experience I had.

much fruit. Different locations mark points in time.

Ruins speak about time, and the passing of time is

Painting in certain locations and in different seasons

inextricably linked to painting nature and landscape.

establishes chronology through my work as a whole.

Italy offers me a lot of material in terms of ruins and

I have no doubt that I shall paint roses for the rest of

landscape.

my life, and it is important to me to note or convey

Why are locations important to you?

autumn just after the first frost, or that these others

somehow that these were painted in Cornwall in late are the extensive rugosa hedge I encountered lining Why did Van Gogh move to France? Why did Corot

a long empty road on Orkney before my children

paint in Italy? And Turner, why did he travel? These

were born. My paintings are seldom a naturalistic

men were all interested in the landscape. Different

depiction of a landscape but there are subtle clues

location, different provocation – the results are

to read in them, which reveal the origin. My work

a distinctive palette, and therefore distinctive

does present as a chronicle, often stamped with

paintings. Why restrict to painting in only one

times, dates, seasons and by locations.

climate, one area if you can move around? The world has so much colour to offer.

The light between Glasgow and Edinburgh is not the same. And the light in Cambridge is very close to that of Edinburgh. There is a difference between north light and south light, but west to east also.

You must take into consideration the amount of land mass or water that there is in the view you are looking at, the altitude of the land, its proximity to the ocean, and the amount of moisture in the air…

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Geoff Uglow in his Cornish studio beside Regina et Dux (Queen and Duke) (cat. 1), 2021 15

The Rose Garden

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1. Regina et Dux (Queen and Duke) oil on linen, 210 x 360 cm 18

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2. Thalia oil on linen, 80 x 80 cm 20

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3. Mutabilis oil on board, 51 x 51 cm 22

4. Le Coussin de Josephine oil on board, 61 x 71 cm 23

5. Silver Moon oil on board, 41 x 41 cm 24

6. Roman de la Rose oil on board, 51 x 61 cm 25

7. Cubile Hiems (Bed of Winter) oil on linen, 220 x 180 cm 26

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8. Jean-Jacques Rousseau oil on board, 51 x 51 cm 28

9. Rosa Dew oil on board, 61 x 71 cm 29

10. Ausonius oil on board, 41 x 41 cm 30

11. Noisette oil on board, 61 x 71 cm 31

Italy

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12. Italian Garden, Afternoon, 17/07/21 oil on paper, 38.5 x 28 cm 34

13. Italian Garden, Evening, 18/07/21 oil on paper, 38 x 28 cm 35

14. The Road to Sorrate, 25/07/21 oil on board, 30.5 x 26 cm 36

15. Italian Garden, Thunder, 16/07/21 oil on paper, 39.5 x 24 cm 37

16. The Tiber Valley, Afternoon oil on paper, 26 x 30.5 cm 38

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17. Italian Rose, Otricoli II oil on paper, 28 x 38.5 cm 40

18. Italian Rose, Otricoli IV oil on paper, 28 x 38.5 cm 41

19. Italian Rose, Otricoli III oil on paper, 28 x 38.5 cm 42

20. Italian Rose, Otricoli I oil on paper, 28 x 38.5 cm 43

21. Santa Catarina, Porto Ercole, 20/09/20 watercolour, 38 x 50 cm 44

22. Porto Ercole, 21/09/20 watercolour, 38 x 50 cm 45

The Sea

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23. 11/11/2020, 3:41pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 35 x 41 cm 48

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24. 27/01/21 I, 3:52pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 24 x 31 cm 50

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25. 19/11/2020, 5:11pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 24 x 36 cm 52

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26. 30/12/2020, 4:29pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 24 x 36 cm 54

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27. 10/12/2020, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 15 x 17 cm 56

28. 12/12/2020, 5:56pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 24 x 36 cm 57

29. 03/01/2021, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 15 x 17 cm 58

30. 01/01/2021, 4:30pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 24 x 36 cm 59

31. 22/02/2021, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 15 x 17 cm 60

32. 27/01/21 II, 5:02pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 24 x 31 cm 61

33. 17/11/2020, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 15 x 17 cm 62

34. 16/11/2020, 4:42pm, Beaufort Lundy oil on board, 25 x 37 cm 63

35. 24/09/20, 4:36 pm

36. 24/09/20, 4:28 pm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm

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37. 24/09/20, 4:33 pm

38. 25/09/20, 4:00 pm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm 65

39. 24/09/20, 4:29 pm

40. 24/09/20, 4:56 pm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm

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41. 24/09/20, 4:55 pm

42. 24/09/20, 4:48 pm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm

watercolour, 9.5 x 9.5 cm 67

Geoff Uglow Born 1978 1997–2000 B.A. Hons (First Class), Fine Art; Painting, Glasgow School of Art 1996–97

Foundation (Distinction), Falmouth School of Art

Solo Exhibitions 2022

The Ploughman, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2019

Era di Marzo, John Cabot University, Rome

2017

The Rose Garden, Vol 1, MMXVI, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2016

A Room of Small Paintings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2015

MMXIV, Connaught Brown, London

2014

Next Year’s Buds, The Last Year’s Seed, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2013

Quercus Robur, Connaught Brown, London

2012

Quercus Robur, Beck and Eggeling, Dusseldorf

2012

Connaught Brown, London

2011

Letters from Barra, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2010

Coda, Connaught Brown, London

2010

Coda, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2008

Fathom, Connaught Brown, London

2007

Being Here Now, The Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

2006

Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

2006

Roman Landscapes, The Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

2005

Spent Light, The Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

2002

Nor Loch Veiled, The Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

2001

Recent Paintings, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

2001

Florence, The Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

1999

Guyana Paintings, Assembly Gallery, Glasgow

Selected Group Exhibitions 2021

Andiamo, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2021

Mythologies, Neon Gallery, London

2015

Ein Baum Ist Ein Baum, Beck and Eggeling, Dusseldorf, Germany

2015

View from the Edge of the Soul, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, USA

2013

Body and Soul, Beck and Eggeling, Art Cologne

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2010

Scotland and Rome, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2006

Responding to Rome: British Artists in Rome, 1995–2005, Estorick Collection, London

2004

Melt, The British School at Rome

2004

Compass, Sala 1, Rome

2003

Fine Arts, The British School at Rome

2002

Academia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome

2002

Laing Art Competition, Mall Gallery, London

2001

Hunting Art Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London

2000

Young Scottish Painters, Phillips, Edinburgh

2000

The Changing Room, Stirling

1998

Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition

Awards and Residencies 2015

Royal Scottish Academy Award, RSA Open

2009

Alastair Salvesen Painting and Travel Scholarship, Royal Scottish Academy

2002–04

Sainsbury Scholarship, The British School at Rome

2002

John Murray Thomson Award

2002

RAS N S Macfarlane Charitable Trust Award

2001

David Cargill Award

2000

The John Cunningham Award

2000

James Torrance Memorial Award

2000

The Murdoch Gibbons Postgraduate Prize

2000

The McKendrick Scholarship

2000

Royal Scottish Academy Landscape Award

1998

Armour Painting Prize

Collections Art in Healthcare, Edinburgh Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition Geoff Uglow The Ploughman 6–29 January 2022 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/geoffuglow ISBN: 978-1-912900-45-9 © foreword by Guy Peploe and The Ploughman by Geoff Uglow Produced by The Scottish Gallery Designed by Kenneth Gray Photography by John McKenzie Printed by Pureprint Group All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

All essays and picture notes copyright The Scottish Gallery.

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