Born in Glasgow, Catriona attended Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen as a mature student. It was here that she developed her distinctive style, with her degree show selling out in hours. Her work is concerned with the human condition and relationships; there is a strong sense of narrative, history, and storytelling, and often animals are seen as companions and confidants.
The paintings seem to look back to a gentler world of beribboned and bonneted girls set against floral backgrounds, but despite the whiff of nostalgia the works speak directly of universal human conditions – joy, hope, longing, and melancholy all surface. Often there is a strong resemblance to the artist herself.
‘People and pattern are my main concerns, and how they interact. I think the creative process is basically a primal urge to reproduce so it seems natural to paint people. Faces fascinate me. The slightest change in the light or mood can alter how we see a person so dramatically. If I can catch something near that instant then I'm happy.’
Catriona paints with great energy using a palette knife paint is thickly applied, scraped back, and worked into. Angles and planes are simplified, and the resulting images look out at us with a direct contemporary gaze.
Since the success of her sell-out 2005 degree show Catriona has exhibited across the UK including the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. In October 2006 she came to the attention of Charles Saatchi with her first solo exhibition at the Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh. She has achieved a lot of press attention, and the Sunday Herald Newspaper ranked her in the top five most collectable Scottish artists. Her work is in collections in Europe, the Far East and America and we are delighted to welcome her to the gallery for the first time.
‘People and pattern are my main concerns, and how they interact. I think the creative process is basically a primal urge to reproduce so it seems natural to paint people. Faces fascinate me. The slightest change in the light or mood can alter how we see a person so dramatically. If I can catch something near that instant then I'm happy.’
Catriona paints with great energy using a palette knife paint is thickly applied, scraped back, and worked into. Angles and planes are simplified, and the resulting images look out at us with a direct contemporary gaze.
Since the success of her sell-out 2005 degree show Catriona has exhibited across the UK including the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. In October 2006 she came to the attention of Charles Saatchi with her first solo exhibition at the Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh. She has achieved a lot of press attention, and the Sunday Herald Newspaper ranked her in the top five most collectable Scottish artists. Her work is in collections in Europe, the Far East and America and we are delighted to welcome her to the gallery for the first time.
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