A presentation on the work of Carol Rhodes by Kate Davis, Moira Jeffrey, Andrew Mummery and Richard Walker, introduced and chaired by Karen Roulstone, Head of Painting and Printmaking at the GSA. This event is organised by the Painting and Printmaking Department, The Glasgow School of Art. Following the event there will be a book launch for the new monograph on Rhodes’ work published by Skira.

Carol Rhodes makes small-scale paintings which depict the interaction of natural geography and human intervention. Her paintings often place us on or near the edge of urban environments, seen from an aerial viewpoint, eerily distant from the world below. There is a mismatch between the vast landscapes depicted and the tiny scale and detail of the paintings, while symbols of mobility – airports or motorways – are curiously stilled and empty.

Born in Edinburgh, the artist was brought up in Bengal, near Kolkata, and the surroundings of her early life have had an enormous influence on her. Many other factors have fed into her visual language, from Medieval Italian painting and Indian court miniatures to Science Fiction literature – all of which might be said to share a peculiar, controlled divergence from naturalism.

Recent exhibitions include a major solo presentation; Survey at The Mac, Belfast 2017 (curated by Andrew Mummery), Looking at the View, Tate Britain, London (2013) and The Ground Around, Vilma Gold, London (2010). Her works are in major collections including Tate, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut.

Image Credit: Trees and Works 2001 Oil on panel, 47 x 58.5cm. Copyright the artist. Photo credit; Antonia Reeve; The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation