Gary Anderson

I am a Scottish artist from Edinburgh, now based in Stow in the Scottish Borders. My practice is predominantly painting and illustration, although relief sculpture and photography provided foundation for artistic development over the years.

Drawing and painting forms the bulk of my finished work, often nuanced as specific stylised drawing created from either a visual trigger, emotion, or the process of automatism where the initial mark making defines the image and a more cohesive composition grows from this. The rendered image is a collection of views, combined glances, often referencing historical or social stories or architectural and structural inequalities. Observational drawing is produced in a simplified way, offering suggestion of the subject rather than a tight representation. This approach has developed over the last few years forming semi abstract works with illustrative elements and motifs, chiefly in charcoal, gouache and oil.

Subjects of work commonly focus on boundaries, where countryside meets village, town and city, and the various intrusions that cut up the landscape. Urban landscapes continue to feed research. Edinburgh’s shifting skyline is an example I use frequently - its people, and a lifelong interest and concern for its architectural and cultural heritage. These concerns have featured heavily in my work over the years, watching the towns fabric and character changing throughout my own lifetime.