Bury Art Gallery
Paul Scott (b.1953, Darley Dale, UK) is based in rural Cumbria. Paul’s commissioned work can be found in public places in Carlisle, Gateshead and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He has also completed large-sca
le works in Hanoi, Vietnam and at the Guldagergård public sculpture park in Denmark. His ceramic printed objects are in national and international private and public collections including The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Norway; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The National Museum, Stockholm; Tullie House, Carlisle; and The Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead.
Best known for his research into ceramics and print, Scott creates individual pieces that blur the boundaries between fine art, craft and design. Research has always played a key role in all aspects of his work – from investigating the technical methodologies of print transfers to the synthesis of historical form and contemporary artefact embodied in his Cumbrian Blue(s) series of which three works were acquired for Bury Art Museum through the Contemporary Art Society’s Omega Fund.
Spode Work is a visual comment on the closure of British factories and the sale of their ‘marques’ to China. Likewise, Wallendorf Tile with 4 Porcelain Summer Tree ‘Shots’ refers to a British factory that until recently produced tiles. The ‘shots’, which feature landscape scenes on the interior, echo Bury Art Museum’s collection of historic landscape paintings while simultaneously providing a subtle commentary on the popular habit of drinking shots of alcohol. Within Windturbines with Vindsäter Tree, Scott explores the aesthetic contrast between traditional and contemporary conventions of landscape. The tree and lovebirds in the foreground derive from a long tradition of wares that are widely admired for their picturesque aesthetic appeal. However, Scott’s landscape also features wind turbines, which in the minds of some are perceived as destructive intrusions in the natural beauty of the landscape. This juxtaposition raises intriguing questions as to what it is that makes a landscape beautiful.
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society through the Omega Fund, 2015