exhibitions & events 2024

Diane Dawson

A Glint

The collective nouns used to describe goldfish are a troubling or a glint.  In this new body of work, the artist shares her search for optimism and hope with images of goldfish, considering a glint as a momentary flash, or a point of realisation.

The paintings presented here are the starting point of the work. The use of colour and scale serve to bring the artist closer to the theme, with an easy connection to the glint, providing the viewer with the visual delight of a fleeting glimpse of the goldfish.

The prints are more considered and have provided the artist with several tools to explore the narrative around reflection and the perception of a glimpse.  The choice of a design aesthetic, with the introduction of absences in the negative space goldfish, invite the viewer to see relationships that lack detail but demand attention.

The overall aesthetic theme allows the audience to experience the brief occurrence, of a glint. Through materials and composition, these quick flashes and traces are captured as snapshots, providing an opportunity to stop for a moment of reflection.

See works from this exhibition

About the artist:

Diane Dawson is a mid-career artist, who primarily works in painting and printmaking. Her paintings experiment with the use of scale, brushstroke, colour, shadow, and a hint of caricature, until she feels a strong emotional connection to the work and the archetypal reservoir of shared experience contained within.

Her subjects are usually creatures in environments, and the relationships that have been altered by humans. Throughout her work she finds the individual spark of personality, colour, and optimism against otherwise troubling or perplexing backgrounds.

Diane uses her paintings to find and engage with her themes and then employs the screen printing process to develop the concepts. For her, the detail and technical quality of the prints are a way of respecting the creatures and the possibilities they bring to the work, both as motifs and character actors in a fabricated narrative.

The viewer is invited to both reflect on our shared environmental responsibility and the individual spark of optimism that may be required to survive and change.

Diane is a graduate of Fine Art Painting & Printmaking from Glasgow School of Art, and since 2010, has maintained a studio practice with both WASPS and Glasgow Print Studio. Recent exhibitions include; ‘SSA 130 Years Annual Exhibition’ The Society of Scottish Artists 2022 and The Royal Scottish Academy ‘Summer Exhibition’ 2023

Image: Diane Dawson, 'Happenstance 1', 2024, screenprint, 45 x 45 cm, edition of 6, courtesy of the artist and Glasgow Print Studio.