Postcards from Edinburgh – Simon Rivett

The paintings are playful, fun, affectionate reflections on Edinburgh’s residents and visitors, they are reflections on romance, commerce, exercise, festivals, and entertainment.

Since moving to Edinburgh in 2017 after living and working as an artist on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides my work and exhibitions have increasingly focused on aspects of Scotland’s capital city. It has seemed both natural and logical to use the city as a source for new collections of work, these latest paintings build on previous exhibition collections with the addition of a narrative. They attempt to be humorous reflections on people’s interactions with Edinburgh.

The paintings are based on observation and the images have been created to reflect romance, commerce, exercise, festivals, and entertainment. I wanted the paintings to be playful, fun, and affectionate reflections on the city, its residents and visitors.

In addition to supplement the theme of this exhibition, I had the images made into printed postcards. One of the ten postcards was then sent to a friend, relative or work colleague. They were asked to write on that postcard and pretend to mail it.
Those responses are included in the exhibition alongside their chosen painting.

The works introduce a bold figurative aspect to my cityscapes with a strong painterly style and bold composition. Traditionally, postcards were a medium used to relate scenes and experiences to friends and relatives. They continue to convey a tangible reminder of an enjoyable experience. This collection of paintings explores this concept by depicting everyday scenarios glimpsed when exploring the vibrant city of Edinburgh

From the artist, Simon Rivett: I trained at Goldsmiths College in London and gained a BA (Honours) in Fine Art in 1984. In the years since graduating my practice has primarily concentrated on painting landscapes. My early paintings focused on making images documenting the declining industrial landscape of my birthplace in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1993, after a few years in Edinburgh I began living and working in the Outer Hebrides on the island of Lewis. For twenty-five years I explored the unique rural landscape of the Outer Hebrides; I also made trips to Iceland, the west coast of the Scottish mainland and Northumberland. My subjects, whether painting mountains in Iceland, the peaty moorland of Lewis, or the gentle hills of the Borders and Northumberland, tended to look for strong light and shapes to make strong, dramatic compositions.

In 2017 I moved back to the mainland and the city of Edinburgh, and as a result I began a completely new body of work. The first of my new paintings were made in the Borders and focused on line and shape, contrasting the farmed land with the hills that separate Scotland and England. These works have evolved from previous, less dramatically lit, landscapes, pushing forward with stronger use of line and shape.

My next collection of new works then took this developing structured approach and applied it to the cityscapes of Edinburgh. My use of colour was also bolder.

My most recent work has focused on drawing, and began when I felt the need to reset and refocus on the interest and subjects that drive my approach to making art. My motifs have typically been the closes and suburbs, often the less-noticed, quiet places of Edinburgh. They are chosen to facilitate the pictorial interests that inform the needs of the work. I like those pictorial elements to be enhanced by light that produces strong shadows and deep contrasts. The result is numerous angles, strong shapes and defining lines.

I am find drawing has an immediacy and freshness that can be revised and manipulated quickly. The materials I use, ink, gouache, charcoal, graphite and lead pencils, ink pens, brushes, soft cloth and erasers, and the surface qualities of different papers can bring an exciting multitude of mark-making possibilities.