I AM SOMHAIRLE… AN ARTIST… A SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER… A EUROPEAN… A PERSON OF EARTH
My work spans many mediums and genres, so it can be difficult to define what I actually do...
PUT SIMPLY, I MAKE PICTURES.
Somhairle* Who? ______NEITHER WAR LORD OR POET**_______________
• My name (in english) SORLEY.
**Occasional Poet
ART / PAINTING / DRAWING
•NB •My art work has taken on a strange character of late, I have no meaningful language to describe what is happening currently, i have an exhibition next summer in ullapool.
***____The ‘About’ Text below describes when my painting work was predominantly landscape based _____***
My painting is informed by experience. Ultimately, my photography acts as the catalyst that forces me outside, to experience life unimpinged by the trappings of modern society. I seek the heavy weather, a darkness. My art is reactionary, expressive and full of fast-flowing actions that convey the physicality of living on planet earth. I paint my experience and my feelings. I speak to the dead, the ghosts of highlands past, my family. I seek renewal through a bold and risky style of painting that I liken more to skateboarding or mountain biking. I land fast and expressive moves on the canvas, hoping to portray the visceral energy that is omnipresent on our planet. Flow rules over all else. I seek a trance-like focus, where risk is rewarded by tapping into the innate chaos of nature. Fortune favours the bold.
Many of my paintings go home to the places they depict, this fills my soul with happiness and provides a validation that money and the internet cannot. I consider it a great honour when my art returns to the landscapes that inspired it.
I am grateful to all the people that have collected my work thus far; you have given me great creative freedom and I thank you sincerely for that.
PHOTOGRAPHY
•*•I have worked as a professional photographer for over 10 years. Much of my work centres around Scotland’s Music scene, which I have been a part of since high school.
I have been taking photos of Scotlands musicians for over a decade. My aim is to work with artists on concepts that reflect not only their music but also heighten their artistic vision to convey their art effectively. I consider myself very lucky to have worked with so many talented people, from straight up hard-core Gàidheil-trad, to experimental new age Ethno-Techno, I’ve even worked with hollywood film stars. I have been part of the wallpaper of the Scottish Music scene since the late 1990’s. Folk bands in the woods are not my schtik though the landscape often works it’s way in ;)
Landscape Photography has become my passion, driving me towards circumstances and places I might not have ventured into otherwise. As a Scottish Highlander I am committed to the land; it is in me as I am in it. My bond to it is unbreakable, forged through generations of my family living in remote corners. The shadows of the past loom deep in my work, permeating the process through the graft and the culture of my forefathers. The landscape speaks to me and I listen.
Film Photography has taken me places digital cannot. There’s just an innate magic to exposing silver oxide to photons. Everything must be done slowly and in sequence, there is an absolute zen to using an overweight medium format camera. Nature plays it part, chemical and reactionary, I feel more attached to it and it satiates my thirst for ‘THE REAL’.
DESIGN & PRINT
•*•I HAVE DESIGNED OVER 150 ALBUM COVERS
Design and Illustration has been my bread and butter for over 20 years. In that time, I have designed well over a hundred and fifty album covers, countless logos and a great many websites, posters, books and magazines . My passion for design still resides in print and I have vast experience in delivering high quality print that is both innovative and pleasing. My work has become ever more creative and expressive and my client base has moved with me. I am now privileged to receive commissions that call for a more experimental and meaningful approach than is traditional. The world is in a period of rapid change and I find that the clients who have stuck with me are keen to be the change they want to see.
AWARD WINNING
OnLANDSCAPE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
Tim Parkin - Editor of OnLandscape Magazine interviewed me for their May 2024 issue. I ended up writing over 6000 words, it’s worth a read if you have the time. It was a very illuminating process for me and I think I have managed to put into words concepts and ideas that were obfuscated before . Click the Button Below to see the layout in it’s full glory.
Huge thanks to Tim for not only working on and nurturing my film photography but also asking me to be the ‘Featured Photographer’ in the Magazine. The magazine is well worth a sub.
https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/
► HALF AN HOUR OF RANTING BY SOMHAIRLE MACDONALD [play]
This Interview by James Lindsay will undoubtedly tell you more about me than any amount of [TEXT] - [ [COPY]].
We speak about our collaboration on his track ‘Lewisian Complex’ and many other things … TOPICS INCLUDED ARE :
Why hiding behind a boulder is not the same as getting a mortgage.
How I stood on a nail with my imagination.
Big Dogs are always Dangerous.
West Highland culture transitioning from Paganism to Christianity.
Why GOATS are better than HUMANS.
Big Thanks to James for making this video with me, if you’ve got half an hour, it is good craic.
SOMHAIRLE M S MACDHÒMHNAILL • QUALIFIED (ART) GENIUS
I MAKE SHORT FORM INTERNET VIDEOS AS A FORM OF EXPRESSION […]
IT IS NEITHER BIG OR CLEVER.
Genuinely I think Social Media is entirely corrosive, but it has this strange
perverted , slot machine-voyeurism that people just love. ♥
I TAKE PART IN ORDER TO SUBVERT IT.
social media is corrosive to society :/
Contact ME.
My Studio is based in the East of Glasgow, Viewings of paintings and local pick up of work are most welcome.
For all shop related issues please click the shop admin contact below
mail@somhairle.co.uk
07775791099
Department A
Dornoch Street Business Centre
30 Dornoch Street
Bridgeton
Glasgow
G40 2QT