Molly Thomson
lives and works near Norwich, Scotland
Artist Statement:
"My conversation is with the object of the painting and with its hybrid identities. Beginning most often with the simple fact of the rectangular painting panel I place myself in the position of both agent and observer, using acts of cutting, reassembling and pouring to re-form - and respond to - each piece. I am interested not only in the layered facade that is presented, but also in the fact that the painting casts and contains shadows. There is always a delicate balance between control and the unpredictable behaviour of materials, and the process advances by slow increments, mis-steps and revisions. Occasionally work descends from the wall and demands space or even mobility. There is play and sometimes there is humour.
Current work continues to evolve through the setting of a series of problems and displacements in each structure. Interior spaces are often implicated, even if only glimpsed through the smallest of openings, and I am interested in the quiet question that such breaks in the facade might pose. Sometimes the paintings are layered, suggesting compressed strata of parallel surfaces. Some paintings may quietly allude to what cannot or shouldn’t be seen, while others flex their joints or extend their surfaces with a touch more expansiveness. Often it can seem to me that order is provisional - something to be tampered with."
Molly Thomson
Biography
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1953
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born in Perth, Scotland
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| MA (Painting) – Royal College of Art, London | |
| Diploma in Post-Graduate studies (Sculpture) – Edinburgh College of Art | |
| MA Fine Art (Sculpture) – Edinburgh University and College of Art |
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
| 2023 | Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (G) At Cross Purposes, Oriel Mon, Anglesey, North Wales At Cross Purposes, Queen Street Studios, Belfast, North Ireland |
| 2022 | ART MATTERS 6, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (G, online) Group show, &Gallery, Edinburgh Paint Edgy, Contemporary British Painting, Ropewalk Gallery, Barton-upon-Humber, England An Expanding Field, Gloam, Sheffield, England Vitalistic Fantasies, Contemporary British Painting, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales Line,Colour and Form, (3-person exhibition), &Gallery, Edinburgh Paradoxes, Contemporary British Painting, Quay Arts, Newport, Isle of Wight |
| 2021 | ART MATTERS 4, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (G, online) Border Crossing, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough Que des femmes. 6th Biennial of Non-Objective Art, Pont de Claix, France Perceiving Anomalies, Yellow Archangel, General Practice, Lincoln Rock, Paper, Scissors, Houghton Hall, Norfolk Orbit, Poimena Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania |
| 2020 | Vitalistic Fantasies, Contemporary British Painting, The Cello Factory, London A Fine Balance, Houghton Hall, 19), 2019), Norfolk Image_Object, Poimena Gallery, Mona Foma festival, Launceston |
| 2019 | neo:art prize, Bolton Art Gallery, Bolton Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter Creekside Open 2019, APT Gallery, London The End of Lines, X Marks the Spot, Great Yarmouth Contemporary British Painting, Norwich Cathedral, Norwich Made in Britain, Contemporary British Painting, National Museum of Poland, Gdansk 4-person exhibition, Gray Contemporary, Houston, Texas |
| 2018 | Artworks Open 2018, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London Beep Painting Biennial, Swansea Art School, Swansea |
| 2017 | Contemporary British Painting Prize, Stables Gallery, Orleans House, Richmond Museum London |
| 2016 | Plenty of time to lose your balance, Nunn’s Yard Gallery, Norwich PING, The Minories, Colchester |
| 2014 | Of Other Spaces, Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield Hallam University Recent Works, Thirteen A Gallery, Norwich (solo) |
| 2012 | Regrouping, Bend in the River Gallery, Workstation, Sheffield x-Church, Gainsborough |
| 2011 | Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter |
| 2010 | We Are What We Do, Stew Gallery, Norwich |
| 2009 | Locus, Visions Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (solo) |
| 2008 | Digital Eyes 2008-2009,Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery |
| 2007 | Siggraph 2007, Global Eyes, San Diego, USA |
| 2006 | Unsern Nachbarn, Haus Metternich, Koblenz, Germany Proof, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff |
| 2005 | V9-U9 Project, Print Portfolio, (India/UK) |
| 2002 | On the Edge, Salthouse, Norfolk |
| 2000 | Connections, John Innes Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich Drawing Connections, Beach Museum, Kansas, USA |
Residencies
2011
Orford Ness, Suffolk
2009
Asabi School of Art, Tokyo
Writing
2017
Mary Heilmann: Looking at Pictures’, review in Journal of Contemporary Painting (issue 4.1)
Joint guest-editor of Journal of Contemporary Painting (issue 3.1&2: Painting as Commitment)
Article
2021
Interview with Contemporary British Painting. October newsletter
Teaching
1991-2010
Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Norwich University College of the Arts
Works (click images to enlarge)
