Half Hope (2023)

Brandon Logan is interested in the malleability of paint as a medium, blurring the lines between painting and sculpture. Driven by a desire to work on a surface more permeable than a traditional canvas, Logan’s technique involves saturating and securing string warps with multiple layers of paint, allowing colour to be held within the strings themselves. Each layer represents a deliberate choice, preserving a narrative of previous decisions. His work embodies both fluidity and structure, exploring diverse patterns, textures, sizes and colour combinations, as well as levels of intensity. This approach enhances the depth of his work while reinforcing a playful push-and-pull of meaning and texture.

The six acquired artworks all exemplify Logan’s techniques on differing scales. Inspired by his island home in Orkney, Logan’s interconnected use of paint with string structures contains a sense of fluidity and movement. Half Hope (2023) is the largest painting in the collection of acquired works. It incorporates cut-outs, which can be interpreted as portals to what lies beneath the surface, or as islands in suspension surrounded by a sea of green. Meanwhile, the trio of works entitled Kiss 11, 12 and 14 (all 2023) showcases a freer use of paint as Logan experiments with different colour pairings to create a dramatic exploration of materials. Lastly, the smaller works, Sweet May and Throat Ache, display alternating rows of colour striking through a white background, across columns of strings. All part of Logan’s solo exhibition Skeleton Stories, these works made their debut at the Pier Arts Centre from September to November 2023.

This acquisition not only complements Logan’s work Salt Pig (2021), which the gallery acquired previously, but also inspires connections between contemporary painting and the gallery’s core collection. For example, the gallery is looking to place Logan’s work Throat Ache alongside paintings by Ben Nicholson and Winifred Nicholson. Moreover, the Pier Art Centre is looking to continue to represent younger artists, supporting the growth of Scotland’s art scene.

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