Open Eye Gallery
Leon Morrocco: Recollection
11 August – 6 September 2014
Leon Morrocco RSA RGI, Passing Basiluzzo, Sicily, 2004
A recollective exhibition of works by Leon Morrocco spanning five decades and documenting the life of a travelling artist.
The art of travel has defined Leon Morrocco’s life and work. The grandson of Italian immigrants to Scotland, he has led a transient existence, crossing continents with his art and his loved ones the constants in his life. From sketchpad jottings to accomplished triptych panel paintings, he creates a visual journal of specific places and enduring moments in time held within the medium of watercolour, pastel, oil or graphite.
Every summer Morrocco’s parents packed the classic Standard Vanguard with their belongings and drove off into Europe with their children in search of heat and artistic inspiration. These early travel experiences and memories of drawing with his father Alberto have left a lasting impression on him. After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1965, he was awarded postgraduate travel scholarships which took him to Greece, Sicily, Turkey and Italy. After ten years teaching at Glasgow School of Art, a sabbatical trip to Mallorca for six months in 1978 allowed him time to explore some of the familiar themes which are still recounted in his compositions today. The following year he took up the post of Head of Fine Art at the Chisholm Institute, Melbourne and emigrated to Australia with his family. He returned to London in 1992, and has since continued to travel and record his observations. Elements of Morocco's memories - visual imagery, narrative structure and feelings of familiarity - are brought together in an exploration of his past personal experiences and significant autobiographical events.
The exhibition is accompanied by a full colour catalogue.
Sat, 10am-4pm
Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm
Free admission
Open Eye Gallery
34 Abercromby Place, EH3 6QE
0131 557 1020/558 9872
Open Eye Gallery
Keith McCarter: Art in Architecture
11 August – 6 September 2014
Born in Scotland in 1936, Keith McCarter trained at Edinburgh College of Art from 1956 to 1960. After graduation he travelled extensively in Europe and Scandinavia and lived in the USA where he worked as a glass designer. His three-dimensional creations and published writings on the role of the artist working within the built environment established his reputation and have resulted in large-scale commissions and invitations to design and advise on a range of international architectural and landscape projects, including with the late Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe. McCarter’s prominent abstract stainless steel and bronze forms are installed at over 30 locations in the USA, Europe and Africa. This exhibition of limited edition casts includes bronze sculptures Carian Form, Oracle, The Secret and a cast of the working model for The Observer, the full-scale version of which is installed at 1020 19th Street, Washington DC, USA.
Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm
Sat, 10am-4pm
Free admission
Open Eye Gallery
34 Abercromby Place, EH3 6QE
0131 557 1020/558 9872
Event
14 August 2014
Leon Morrocco in Conversation with Richard Demarco
5pm
Tickets £5, including a glass of wine. Book tickets, or call 0131 557 1020..
Open Eye Gallery
Scottish Masters: Painting and Printmaking
11 August – 6 September 2014
Scottish Masters features paintings by some of Scotland’s greatest post-war artists including Robin Philipson, John Bellany, Steven Campbell, Elizabeth Blackadder, Adrian Wiszniewski and Alan Davie.
Housed in the Print Room at Open Eye Gallery, the exhibition features a selection of significant works including an early John Bellany etching from 1965 and a Pat Douthwaite lithograph titled Screaming Woman in a Landscape from 1974. Prints by Ken Currie, Barbara Rae, John Byrne, Philip Reeves, Craigie Aitchison and Ian Hamilton Finlay will also feature.
Mon–Fri, 10am–6pm
Sat, 10am–4pm
Free admission
Open Eye Gallery
34 Abercromby Place, EH3 6QE
0131 557 1020/558 9872