Rosalind Lawless RGI

Elected RGI: 2013

Award-winning contemporary artist, Rosalind Lawless is concerned with architecture and space; space not as a container but as the contained. The solid volume of the air defined by objects: interior space, open space or a very specific space such as a corner of a room, a window blind, the gaps between one room and another the way that walls meet at the top and sides, doorways, and corridors. In this exhibition Interior Monuments.

Rosalind Lawless was born in Glasgow in 1978 and studied Fine Art Printmaking at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen from 1999 to 2002. She graduated with a Masters of Fine Art Printmaking from the Royal College of Art, London in 2004. She teaches art part time, and exhibits regularly in Scotland. In 2002 she won the Royal Scottish Academy John Kinross Award culminating in a three month scholarship to Florence. In 2003 she was winner of the Daler Rowney Drawing Prize Royal College of Art, London, in 2004 the Tim Mara Trust Award from the Royal College of Art and in 2005 the Joe Hargan Award Paisley Art Institute, Glasgow. In 2008 and 2009 she was the recipient of the Glasgow Art Club Fellowship Award and Inverarity One to One Travel Award respectively from the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, where in 2013 she became elected member. Her abstract compositions consist of layers of silkscreen, paint and pastels and relates to the spaces that inspire her and document the history created through the process of making the work.

“My practice began with wanting represent buildings and the space they inhabit. I amparticularly interested in Architecture and space, Space not as container but as the contained – the solid volume of the air defined by objects: Interior space open space or a very specific space such as a corner of a room, a window blind, the gaps between one room and another the way that walls meet at the top and sides, doorways, and corridors. I continue to explore these ideas of internal and external space as a way of comprehending notions of space and documenting the imagined and observed.

Throughout the work, the language, however formal is abstract. Working with layers sometimes only using one layer keeping the work pure, by editing, subtracting, adding with silkscreen and collage, I always strive to physically construct space within the composition of my work. The work revolves around a sense of history, of the spaces that inspire and the history of the journey making the work. Within the work the subject matter appears to enter the paper from the sides as though it is slipping in or out of view, leaving or entering the paper.

Within the work the colours are continually overlaid, constructing with paint and print using different kinds of material; charcoal, graphite, using sources such as photocopier, drawings and photographs. I acknowledge sculpture in my work and aim to bring the outside space into my work. I work predominately with a build up of layers consisting of silkscreen, paint and pastels. This leads to scraping back and covering over until the paper or canvas becomes completely manipulated.

Colour is used in a subtle and structural way, I build up tonal variations and harmonies, and it relates to the structure, defines planes, suggests depth and contributes to overall composition.

Academic Qualifications:
2002-2004 MA Printmaking, Royal College of Art, London
1999-2002 BA Fine Art Printmaking, Grays School of Art, Aberdeen (First class honours)

Permanent Collections: Pallant House Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Private Collections: UK, USA, Iceland

Awards
2009 Inverarity One to One Travel Award, Royal Glasgow Institute
2008 Glasgow Art Club Fellowship Award, Royal Glasgow Institute
2005 Joe Hargan Award Paisley Art Institute Glasgow
2004 Tim Mara Trust Award Royal College of Art
2003 Daler Rowney Drawing Prize Royal College of Art, London
2002 Royal Scottish Academy John Kinross Award (3 month Scholarship to Florence)

Selected Exhibitions:

​2016
Tatha Gallery Fife, Scotland

2015
Transition Open Eye Gallery Edinburgh
London Art Fair, Glasgow Print Studio
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Annual

2014
In Abstraction Glasgow Print Studio
Scottish Art Club Prize Exhibition, Edinburgh
London Art Fair, Glasgow Print Studio
London Original print Fair, Glasgow Print Studio

2013
Interior Monuments Open Eye Gallery Edinburgh
London Art Fair, Glasgow Print Studio
London Original print Fair, Glasgow Print Studio

2012
Royal Scottish Academy Invited Artist

2011
Royal Glasgow Institute Kelly Gallery, Abstracted Material
Foyer Gallery Aberdeen
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Drawing (on) Riverside
London Art Fair, Glasgow Print Studio

2010
BP Atrium Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery
RGI Kelly Gallery, Glasgow Seven Woman Artists
Glasgow Art Fair, Glasgow Print Studio.
Open Eye Gallery, Abstract Edinburgh
St James Palace, Aberdeen, Cream
Scottish Gallery Edinburgh, Glasgow Print Studio Artists

2009
Blackadder to Borland, Scottish Women Printmakers, Pallant House Gallery
Glasgow Art Fair. Glasgow Print Studio
London Art Fair, Glasgow Print Studio
Rodger Bilcliffe Gallery Glasgow
Blackheath Gallery London

2008
Contained Glasgow Print Studio, Solo Show
Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow Art Fair
The Art Movement, Glasgow Print Studio, London Art Fair

2007
Discerning Eye Mall Galleries, London
Blackheath Gallery London,
Glasgow Print Studio, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition
Amber Roome, Edinburgh 2 person show with James Lumsden

2006
Partitions Glasgow Print Studio, Solo Show

2005
Singer and Friedlander Exhibition Invited Artist
Blackheath Gallery London, Group Exhibition

Group Exhibitions:

2009
Royal Glasgow Institute Exhibition

2008
Royal Glasgow Institute Exhibition
RGI Kelly Gallery, Royal Glasgow Institute

2007
Aspect Prize Exhibition Paisley Art Centre
Heinzel Gallery, Aberdeen

2006
Blindfolds, Print exchange USA-UK
Paisley Art Institute Glasgow

2005
Hamnavoe Gallery Aberdeen
Art Exposure Gallery Group Exhibition Glasgow
Paisley Art Institute Glasgow Annual Exhibition, Scotland
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park, London
Mid City Place, Holborn London
Cubo Bianco Glasgow School of Art

2004
MA Show Upper Gulbenkien gallery Royal College of Art
Our Time Now Cafe Gallery, Southwark Park, London

2003
Past and Present, Strathearn Gallery, Crieff, Scotland
ex-Press Gulbenkien Galleries Royal College of Art, London
Royal College of Art Interim exhibition, London
New Graduates Leith Gallery, Edinburgh

2002
Royal College of Art Print exhibition, London
Affordable Art Fair Battersea Park, London
Degree Show Grays School of Art, Aberdeen
Marshall Gallery Exhibition, Aberdeen
Aberdeen Artists Society exhibition, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Royal Scottish Academy, student exhibition McClellan Galleries, Glasgow

http://www.roslawless.com