Drawings by Colin Robertson

We are delighted to welcome Colin Robertson back to iota.

‘Among starting points for these drawings are:

streams of vehicle lights seen on the motorway at night
a fashion shot of a model in a colourful pullover
images of the royals at the funeral
memories: of life at sea, gutting fish aboard a deep sea trawler with pop songs singing out on the tannoy
three West Indian ladies seen on the London underground
the intractable situation in Gaza
images of young Russians ‘marching as to war’ and
a photo of Sinead O’Connor.

In the process of drawing, what appears on the paper suggests directions to take, which may stay closely linked to the starting point - or may not. Putting together two drawings with the same motifs to form the one whole came about partly by accident and seemed, to me, to add something but also partly came about due to an unease I have about the bottom edges of certain horizontal drawings and this practice solves puts the offending edges into the centre of the drawing.

The drawings are done on Japanese papers – Mingeishi and Sekishu Shi using charcoal, conte crayon and uni-ball pen.

‘Born 1936. Graduated from Dundee College of Art and Technology In Design & Crafts, did Post Diploma year and was awarded a travelling scholarship. Worked briefly as commercial artist in Glasgow, then: farmwork in Angus, two years on kibbutzim in Israel, several winters sailing out of Reykjavik and Grimsby on trawlers, seven years as night cinema cleaner in London, twenty plus years as a council gardener in Westminster merging with trade union branch secretary, school governor in Islington and Chair of Governors of the school - which they closed down. I have always drawn and painted and retired to Glasgow to walk the West Highlands with my partner and to feed the cat.’

Colin Robertson