Take a virtual tour of this exhibition here.
William Dick’s geometric abstract paintings are inspired by ancient tribal symbols and a fascination with the geological transformation of landscape. Each evolves out of itself, layer on layer, transforming and growing in its physical and illusionary depth.
He has always drawn on ancient symbols from his own Scottish background, using the symbols, circles, concentric circles, and spirals common in Pictish/ Celtic Art, to convey something of the magic and religious function that art once held in this culture. The aim is to produce work that embraces the purest language of painting. That transcends the illustrative, to capture a sense of the monumental within the ambiguities that flow from his intuitive use of paint.
The physicality of the work is created by painterly gesture, linear marks, texture, opacity and transparency. Yet is able to create in the mind, an imaginary, ambiguous, atmospheric world wholly located in the abstract language of painting.
Born in Glasgow, he studied at Glasgow School of Art (1971 – 1972) and completed a Diploma in Fine Art (Painting and Drawing) at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee in 1976. This was followed by post-graduate study there, and an additional year at St Martin’s School of Art in London.
The recipient of numerous awards and bursaries, most notably from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the British Council, he has developed work in residencies in the UK, USA, Russia, Hungary and the Middle East, and completed residencies at the highly regarded Bemis Center, Omaha U.S.A., Triangle Artists’ Workshop, New York and Yaddo Artists’ Residence at Saratoga Springs, New York. Since 1987 he has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in the institutional and commercial sectors.
His work is represented in several public collections in the UK, USA and Europe.