Scottish artist Simon McAuley reviews Project Ability’s exhibition featuring three artists from supported studios, which forms part of Glasgow International 2021.

Nils McDiarmid, Jay Z, 2020, Ink pen and colourd pens on paper

Art et al. is thrilled to see three artists from UK supported studios as part of Glasgow International 2021. It’s in the Detail features works by Leslie Thompson (Venture Arts), Nils McDiarmid (Garvald Edinburgh) and Robin Wise (Newton Dee). The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Robin Wise who passed away early in 2021.

Art et al. commissioned Simon McAuley, who attends Project Ability‘s Reconnect programme, to preview the exhibition. Simon is an artist who undertakes an uninterrupted personal investigation testing material and conceptual possibilities of his work with a straightforward attitude of “learning as you go along”.

Enjoy reading, and if you’re in Glasgow between 11 June – 24 July 2021, then get along to Project Ability’s Gallery space on Trongate.

A touch of detail.

The last year has seen us interact with screens like never before. When we are online there is an absence of something felt. A peculiar kind of guesswork and attempts to reconstruct. A touch remotely. The online world has been valuable, but we want to get back to being present, to feel things as they are and to hopefully see more art.

Seeing these drawings was the first time in over a year I had stood before actual artwork. It felt good. Like meeting an old friend. This experience was of art and of being present with it. Drawings are not a substitute they are a direct source. To see, feel and orient around the actual pieces is a rich experience compared to a digital image. It is a meaningful encounter. When the pen touches paper, there is a simplicity, function and a reduced complexity. As if gravitating toward a point of significance. These direct lyrical surfaces are enchanting. Sometimes mysterious, sometimes fun and frankly amazing… they catch your breath.

Drawings keep you in touch. Marks are the medium.

All three artists approach drawing in different ways. A description or approach to each of the artists seems to require a different type of language from me. So here goes.

With Nils I want to use short. Punctuated with flows. To leave gaps but make sense. To have a dynamic conversation or appreciation. Nils’ work draws on cultural resources. His figures have sculpted faces and patterned flowing clothes. Bold lines fold back and forward, with delineating features. His drawings depict confidence straight forward. Catch your breath.

Leslie Thompson, King of the Jungle, 2019, Painted illustration on unstretched canvas, 63x48cm

Leslie’s work illustrates a confidence in a mark. Leslie requires praise for his work in language, which is more descriptive. His work is more detailed and discursive while retaining a sense of fun and energy. But also, he uses a language which charges and leaps. People, animals and text all come together in his larger piece. In his smaller drawings, animals occupy a corner of the page with so much presence and a breath of fresh air.

Robin’s work is a faith in mark making drawing. Or mark made drawing. Robin is philosophical and mysterious. Or rather the language I would like to use is that he has an approach that delves a bit more into questions and theoretical considerations. This is based on a close viewing of his empty street scenes and within them I found something familiar - an interest in photography or rather, the surface of a photograph. What I could see in the drawings was an attempt to match the surface rather than solely drawing the depiction in the photograph. His drawings are exquisite. Take a deep breath.

The three dimensions - paper, pen and hand. An art of touching that is redeemed in the heart and in the eye.

To view art is to feel it. A profound touch.