Settlements | Alasdair Wallace

Alasdair Wallace's art is one of surrealism within the everyday.  Living and working in Glasgow, Wallace takes inspiration from the city's rural and urban fringe. A recurring theme for the artist is the sense of this 'edge land' absurdly infringing on some evocation of an ideal landscape. Much of the recent work reveals an influence of the symbolic language present in neo-classical and romantic landscape painting tradition.  The sense of allegory inherent in these Western landscape painting traditions is preserved but is mischievously confounded with ambiguous connections to contemporary life.  His invented landscapes are combined with oblique observations of real locations, to present a world that is at once recognisable as it is unsettling.  Though the work often intrigues and baffles in equal measure, the openness of form and the accessibility of familiar motifs, invites audiences to engage with the work imaginatively and to decide the significance of their own.

His works are held in a number of collections including: Walter Scott Collection; Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation; Cromarty Arts Trust; The Royal Scottish Academy; North Lanarkshire Council, Grampian Hospitals Art Trust; and The City of Glasgow College.

Image caption:  Walled Cities by Alasdair Wallace

Virtual tour of the exhibition

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