18th March – 1st April 2025

We look forward to welcoming local artist and fellow Pentagon Centre resident Daniel Donnelly back to Six Foot Gallery for an inspiring retrospective of his work. This lively collection of oil paintings and etchings covers a broad range of subjects including portraiture, landscapes, and striking geometric works. Though seemingly disparate in subject matter, the deep pool of influences and inspiration that Daniel draws from ensures that the works all sit comfortably beside and in communication with each other.

Read our interview with Daniel here.

So how do I go about making ‘Modern Art’? I asked myself. How can I make truly meaningful art? I kept these questions within me for a long time, and it was only in the process of learning to paint that some answers finally came to me.

Using detailed dark and light to create depth in my work guided my approach to finding perspective and shaped my use of materials into a more fluent practice. The more my vision is clarified and cemented, the less doubt I feel about the work, something I’ve learned to leave up to time. My understanding of spatial organisation evolved through studying orientation, particularly in Klimt’s paintings, while observing Monet helped me to embrace the challenge of working on multiple pieces simultaneously, which not only led to new work but also helped to prevent complacency. I’ve realised that repetitive practice is a must, rather than something to avoid. The concept of composition itself has become both an enlightening and a profound enterprise. Finding out that what I thought were understandings were in fact misunderstandings, has humbled my process, allowing for the artist’s term happy accidents to become something meaningful. Creating my own path is a testament to the years I have spent studying and refining my practice. For example, there is great life within my colour explorations, like flowers that bloom only once or twice a year – they too share this existence.

Goethe’s The Theory of Colours seeped into all my best work while The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard expanded my awareness of the larger and smaller world out there. The Theory of Colours unveiled mysteries, generating an intense curiosity and a somewhat sudden realisation of the powers of colour. During a period of red paint sketches a few years ago, which helped advance my larger paintings, I found another pivotal book: Social Sculpture by Sarah Lowndes. This led me to research Glasgow’s remarkable Third Eye movement of the 1970’s. My studio time in various institutes gradually evolved far enough for me to enter a new phase of subject exploration, one that now feels particularly significant to me – larger work and smaller geometrical patterns based on three things:  pattern, colour, and measurements, influenced by Frank Stella, Rothko, and Paul Klee. 

Regarding my most fresh work, I have again evolved enough to be able to paint. After an extended period of contemporary work I decided to shift my focus to landscapes, inspired by a painting I saw in Edinburgh’s National Gallery. It had a great illusion in it – from a distance it was a masterfully flowing mountain scape of rich greens and shadows and light, but drawing into a closer view it became clear that it was all achieved with incredibly large brush strokes. Inspiration struck as a flash of light that I had to undertake. 

Looking back, I now see that my most formative years of training were in my early twenties, the beginning of the possibility of opportunity. I had a deep love of art and was thrilled to be picking up a brush and oils and getting to work. Modern art had yet to find me but I was captivated by Impressionism. At the same time, I was reading a lot of classical literature, which heavily inspired my work. I accumulated a miscellany of interests in philosophy, culture, and spiritualism, and along with them, beauty in all its forms. This growing awareness ignited an excitement for learning within myself. I grounded myself in a network of authors, not least the wonderful Walt Whitman, the one hundred year old contemporary giant. I came to terms with the fact that, on reflection, my worldview was quite limited, and this translated to a lot of early works that I regarded as failures. In spite of this every journey into a studio space was like an adventure, so while I lacked composure I was, so to speak, oiled for the occasion.

I joined an art institute, grateful yet ignorant about how to progress, but this communal setting of around twenty aspiring artists turned out to be the second time I had picked up a brush in just the right environment. Regardless of my skill level at the time I was always filled with wonder; I learned the feel of a desk, what canvas feels like when stretched, the bounce it has, the absorbency. The power of mixed media in its contemporary forms intrigued me and pushed me onward.

The magical mix continued when I got into Trompe L’oeil techniques, painting in realism, and studying a new mix of artists.

My scattered influences started to solidify: everything has an art, I thought, from books to bus seats. I started to think that mastery could come from any subject.

I met Clare Crines (former director of Six Foot Gallery), who took me on as an apprentice and guided me in a range of disciplines such as botanical drawing, etching, screen printing, and oil painting – my ultimate goal. 

I wanted to highlight the power of translation in my art. A sense of direction with – far ahead – the idea of something new. I have always been struck by how classical artists like Caravaggio, Botticelli and other greats got to make the work they did. The ancient history of Europe, particularly Greek culture, holds great fascination for me. In the next breath I realised I had to see further, and started concentrating on the art of the 1850’s. I could relate to this time with all of its fanciful advances. In fact, when I’ve seen exhibitions of said period it seems so great that I felt small just looking at it. I took great delight in Impressionism, and my research of Cézanne’s influences in painting still has a remarkable impact on me.

Some of the most prominent movements in great art have been moulded by travelling, so in that spirit Clare and I travelled south to take in a Gustav Klimt exhibit at the Tate Liverpool, opening us both up to the entrancing exotic wonders to be found in his works. They were full of compassion, truth, passion and humanity, in all its honest portrayals. An encounter with Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period in London’s National Gallery of Modern Art sent us soaring in his style. Whistler’s elegantly formed woman and Margaret Mackintosh’s panels formed a connection I couldn’t ignore, and I found the charms of John Byrne irresistible. The freedom of Paul Klee’s work when contrasted with Frank Stella’s geometrical art taught me a new capacity for brush strokes.

An artist’s life is limited only by their imagination. You, the artist, have the practical interest of going through the laborious manifesto process in order to keep developing new work, and for your own well being.

My journey has encompassed teaching as well as learning: wood carving, guitar, and calligraphy, in whose flow I circle oil paint compositions. Long hours of studio work have refined my approach to oil painting, informed by botanical drawing and also greatly informed by printmaking. Etching, in particular, has been my central focus, facilitated by my membership at the Glasgow Print Studio. I enjoy the simple observation of the contrast created between light and dark in the immaculate border lines of a finished etching. While at GPS, I picked up the book, Art in Theory, 1900 to 2000, an index of essays from artists, cultural figureheads, and literary critics, all of which offer great, unflinchingly honest advice about possible routes into Modern Art.

Throughout my time as an artist, whether working in oils, printmaking, or more practical skills, all the knowledge I planted continued to grow within me. I have saved mention of my most influential writer until this conclusion: the evoking experience of reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s work, a man said to have liberated Europe. His work lent alms to these theses of my practice, giving me aides for profundity in an attempt to know my art’s realisations. Now, application is everything for me in what I can achieve with a brush, constantly seeking ways to expand my work and push its limits. I find all the tricks I can to blow up my work and return this evocation as a gift to the universe.

Daniel Donnelly: A Retrospective runs at Six Foot Gallery until Tuesday 1st April 2025.