HANNA KACINIEL

POP ART

Kaciniel makes an important contribution to Scottish Contemporary Art with her POP ART that reflects the popular culture of the period.

Life changes by the generation.
As living and educational standards have risen and the internet has become a force in our lives, our consumption (including goods, travel, services, media, technology and information) have expanded dramatically.

Polish born Kaciniel (the first 12 years of her life behind the Iron Curtain) reminds us through the use of consumption icons that we do indulge and gain psycholgical satisfaction from that consumption.
Her work offers a mirror that uses symbolism to reflect the mood of a generation.

Life is complex and we turn to certain indulgencies to help us cope and feel good about life.

Hanna is probably the leader of the mainstream contemporary POP ART movement in Scotland.

As with the original pop art movement her work shuns traditional painting conventions (landscape, figurative and traditional still life form).

This is what appeals to her growing number of collectors.
They want STANDOUT and a little jolt (a Full Scottish breakfast) on their wall to remind both themselves and their viewers that they have their own mind and lead (rather than follow) and that they look at the world differently (beyond the ordinary).
We know her collectors and that point is embedded in the typical collector's profile.

PETER KING DA

Peter King is a DA. Born in 1953, he gained his Diploma in Drawing and Painting at the Glasgow School of Art from 1972 – 1976.

He is one of the last of a generation of artists who were classically trained. This was an era when pupils were rigorously taught painting and drawing skills by Scotland’s leading professional artists. Notables like David Donaldson RSA RP RGI LLD Dlitt (1916-1996) and Duncan Shanks RSA RSW RGI (b.1937) were just two of his tutors. As art schools across the UK embraced new academic programmes (affiliation with Universities), the Diploma methodology was replaced and the traditional tutoring model was progressively abandoned in favour of a more academic Degree syllabus. 

King reflects that there was nothing better for a pupil than watching a contemporary painting master demonstrate how to shape and form a composition. As an educationalist for 35 years, he laments the changes in new teaching practice.

Key art influences for King were his uncle who introduced him to art through various trips as a child to Kelvingrove. There he gained exposure to the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists. He also admires the work of Diego Velazquez (1599-1660), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) and Willem de Kooning (1904-1997). In particular, he admired De Kooning’s ‘beautiful economy with mark making’. How to say a lot, with very little paint.

With King paintings, you get the opportunity to buy one of the last of a generation of classically-trained artists. While his training was classical, King has always painted in a relevant, modern style using the economy found in the (modernisation) trend towards art abstraction.