William Dick
Biography – William Dick
William Dick was born in Glasgow in 1950. He studied at Glasgow School of Art,1971 -1972, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee 1972-1977 and Saint Martin’s School of Art London 1977-1978. He has exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions, and has been the recipient of numerous awards and bursaries: most notably from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the British Council, UNESCO – Aschberg Scholarship, Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award and Pilar Juncosa Award. The development of his work has involved highly regarded artist residencies in the UK, USA, Russia, Hungary and the Middle East, amongst these: Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, Bemis Center, Omaha, Triangle Artists’ Workshop, New York and a fellowship at Yaddo Artists’ Residence, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA.
He has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions both in the institutional and commercial sectors. Dick’s work is represented in public collections in the UK, USA and Europe.
Statement – William Dick
I am a painter who works with various media on canvas/ paper, and produce prints, which relate directly to these paintings. The scale of my work varies from Works on Canvas, Drawings and Prints, 250 x 250cms to 30 x 30cms, but I feel there is a continuity of theme and technique running through my work no matter the scale.
I have always accepted the notion that there are two distinct forms of abstract painting, namely geometric and organic, and given this, my work explores the questions that arise from exploring a minimalist structure in an expressively painterly way, to produce objects which embrace the purest language of painting. These works transcend the illustrative, treating drawing as a mark making process and by offering themselves as physical objects they, paradoxically, are able to create in the mind of the spectator an imaginary, ambiguous, atmospheric world that is wholly located in the abstract language of painting.
I commence with the fundamental balance in painting between line and colour and have drawn on ancient symbolic shapes from my Scottish heritage. It is purely abstract and the apparent appropriation of forms found in Celtic and other ancient art represents an attempt to create an historical context for my modernist language beyond the confines of the Western Tradition. Regarding colour, I begin from observation of geological form and the substance of land; of dust, sand, mud and rock as well as the outcrop of local street furniture/ architecture; weather along with the effects of weathering and the extreme and exotic colour of lichen, peat and mosses.
My work relies in the process that involves building layers and skeins and glazes of various types of paint over a long period of time. Opacity is juxtaposed with transparency; surfaces and colours are concealed and revealed which results in a tonal complexity which is simultaneously disturbing and poetic. There are no comforting allusions to landscape or still life, thereby evoking pure painting probably at its purest. The materiality of the paintings is crucial to their effect, their success as objects and ultimately, the reaction they provoke in the spectator.
BIOGRAPHY
1950 Born Glasgow, Scotland
1971-72 Glasgow School of Art
1972-76 Fine Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee
1976-77 Post Graduate, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee
1977-78 St. Martin's School of Art, London
AWARDS
1974 First Prize Grampian Television Award
1975 George Duncan Travelling Scholarship
Carnegie Scholar, Royal Scottish Academy
1976 Winsor & Newton Finalist
1977 Elizabeth T. Greenshields Scholarship
1989 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award
1989-90 Artist in Residence, Bemis Foundation, Omaha, U.S.A.
1990 Salgotarjan Intersymposium, Hungary
British Council Award, Hungary
1991 Artist in Residence, Crawford Arts Centre, St.Andrews
1992 British Council Award, Moscow, Russia
2001 UNESCO-Aschberg Scholarship, Amman, Jordan
Artist in Residence, Darat al-Funan Art Center, Amman Jordan
British Council Award
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award
2004 Pilar Juncosa Award, Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro a Mallorca, Spain
Triangle Artist’s Workshop, New York, U.S.A.
2005 Artist’s Workshop, Szeged, Hungary
2006 Artist’s Residency, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A.
2007 Artist’s Workshop, Szeged, Hungary
2009 Artist’s Workshop, Szeged, Hungary
2011 Artist’s Workshop, Szeged, Hungary
2013 Artist’s Workshop, Szeged, Hungary
2015 Artist’s Workshop, Szeged, Hungary
2021 Uig Open Award, Isle 0f Lewis, Scotland
COLLECTIONS
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland
Barclays Bank PLC, United Kingdom
The Bemis Foundation, Omaha, U.S.A.
City Art Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Darat al Funun Gallery, Amman, Jordan
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Collection, Dundee, Scotland
Dundee Art Gallery, Dundee, Scotland
Foundation for Hungarian Graphics Arts, Budapest, Hungary
The Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, Scotland
The Lillie Art Gallery, Milngavie, Scotland
Moscow Union of Artists, Moscow, Russia
Nogradi Torteneti Muzeum, Salgotarjan, Hungary
The Scottish Arts Council
University of Dundee, Art Collection, Dundee, Scotland
University of Nebraska, Omaha, U.S.A.
University of Stirling, Art Collection, Stirling, Scotland
Private Collections - Great Britain, U.S.A., Canada, Holland, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Russia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, UK
2018 Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr, UK
2017 Lillie Art Gallery, Milngavie, UK
2016 Haunt, London, UK:
2007 Billingham Art Gallery, Billingham, UK
2007 Lighthouse, Poole Centre for the Arts, Poole, UK
2006 St. Jurgen Starkow Mecklenburg, Voerpommem, Germany
2005 St. Jacobikirche, Strslund, Germany
2003 Sutton House, London, UK
2002 Pilgrim Gallery, London, UK
2001 St. Mary's Woolnoth Church, City of London, UK
2001 The British Council, Amman, Jordan
2001 UNESCO Gallery, Amman, Jordan
1997 Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, Ireland
1996 Limerick City Art Gallery, Limerick, Ireland
1996 Monaghan Museum Gallery, Ireland
1996 The Economist, London, UK
1996 Tricycle Gallery, London, UK
1994 Meffan Gallery, Forfar, UK
1991 Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, UK
1991 Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK
1990 New Gallery, Bemis Foundation, Omaha, USA
1990 Nogradi Torteneti Museum, Salgotarhan, Hungary
1989 Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
1989 Mark Four Gallery, Lincoln, USA
1989 Seagate Gallery, Dundee, UK
1988 Crescent Arts Workshop, Scarboroug, UK
1988 Southampton Arts Centre, UK
1988 The Crypt Gallery, London, UK
1988 University of Exeter, UK
1988 University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
1987 Artworks Space, London, UK
1987 Eagle Works Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021- Solace, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, UK, Uig Open, Hulabhaig, Isle of Lewis, UK. 2020 - Made at Castle Mills, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, UK - Hidden Gems, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland, Time + Space: Beginnings, Bemis Center, Omaha, U.S.A. 2016 - John Moores Painting Prize 2016, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2015 - Abstracted, Lillie Art Gallery, Milngavie, Glasgow, Scotland, XX Szegedi Muvesztelep,Roek Palace, Szeged,Hungary. 2013 - XIX Szegedi Muvesztelep,Roek Palace, Szeged,Hungary 2011 - Elysian Project Gallery, London, UK, Be a Saint, Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, California, U.S.A. 2010 - XVI. Szegedi Muvesztelep,Roek Palace, Szeged,Hungary, Bemis Center, Omaha, U.S.A. 2009 - 100 x 100. Parkers Box, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. 2008 - XlV Szegedi Muvevesztelep , Muvevesztelep Bartok Bella Muvelodesi Kozpont , Szeged, Hungary 2007 - Xlll Szegedi Muvevesztelep , Bartok Bella Muvelodesi Kozpont Szeged, Szeged, Hungary 2005 - Summer Salon, Gallery V, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A . 2005 - Xl Szegedi Muvevesztelep, Bartok Bella Muvelodesi Kozpont, Szeged, Hungary 2004 - Triangle Open Studios, New York, USA. 2003 - Pilgrim Gallery, London 2003 - Space Open, London. 2003 - William Dick and Janet Patterson, Pilgrim Gallery, London. 2002 - Woolff Gallery, London. 2001 - Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax. 2000 - Camden Open, Camden Lock, London 2000 - Reflections, Southside Arts, Southampton 1998 - Art at Vitalis, London 1998 - Resonant Colours, Coningsby Gallery, London 1998 - Whitechapel Open Studios, London 1997 - Three Painters, Kunsthaus Schaller, Stuttgart, Germany 1997 - Weihnachtsaussterlungen Kunsthaus Schaller, Stuttgart, Germany 1994 - Cuprum VI, Centrum Miedziortyu, Lublin, Poland 1994 - Grafik Forms, Ujpest Gallery, Budapest, Hungary 1994 - International Exhibition, Tarii Crisurilor Museum, Romania 1994 - Print Triennial, Krakow, Poland 1993 - Bradford Open Print Exhibition, Cartwright Hall, Bradford. 1993 - Graphic Biennal, Maastricht, Netherlands 1993 - Kiev - East European - Kiev, St Petersburg, Russia 1992 - Bemis Artists, New Gallery, Omaha, USA.. 1992 - Corporate Locations, Omaha, USA