Barry McGlashan | We Dream of the Pacific

JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING – MAYA FRODEMAN GALLERY is pleased to present We Dream of the Pacific, a solo exhibition of paintings with Scottish artist Barry McGlashan, on view at the gallery's downtown location from August 2nd through September 15th, 2024. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. An opening reception will be held Friday, August 2nd from 5-8pm. All are welcome to attend.

 

This exhibition brings together luminous oil paintings by the acclaimed painter Barry McGlashan. Painting from a deep well of cultural references both literary and visual, McGlashan as a Scotsman hits at the very nerve of what it is to experience the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains in We Dream of the Pacific. “These shared cultural origins often manifest themselves in my work as images of solitary travelers, wandering on the edge of some new-found knowledge or frontier. A certain time and place seems to suit this thematic lure - so I find my world populated with prospectors, drifters, and the lost but hopeful: all dreaming of their Pacific,” McGlashan notes in his artist statement.

 

References to the rich history and timeless appeal of the American West abound in subject matter, transporting the viewer a dreamy, visceral landscape. Whitman’s “All the pulses of the world’’ are present; mountains rise up, waterfalls flow countless vertical feet, nearly cowing their human counterparts where they feature. Human individuality rises to the task in the striped dress of the undeniable heroine of Tuolumne, the unmistakably chic sweater of Nostalgia, and the patched sweater hung to dry in The Elders. The work is undeniably peppered with a feeling of nostalgia, even when impossible to find a chronological timestamp. From a literal image of prospectors (The Elders) staring back from the canvas as though captured in a large-format, turn-of-the-nineteenth-century camera lens, to the Instagram-worthy capture of the woman and her dog at the beach (Nostalgia), or the cowboy, an Everyman, galloping through any moment in time, as captured in Chalk Pass, it is occasionally difficult to place the work in a specific century. 

 

According to McGlashan, “Painting is a learnt language - something shared throughout history that allows you to talk to the past and the future at the same time. It is far more than the sum of its parts. So in terms of making, the paintings coalesce through a well-practiced form of exploration and finding, perhaps why I find prospecting to be such an eternal subject - we’re all just trying to find something of value in all that dirt.” McGlashan paints in a style all his own, in richly layered veils of pigment, the paint quality akin to a dreamy, neo-impressionist handling of washes. But it is the landscape itself, the dreamy awe he is able to convey so deftly, that holds powerful potency in these works. McGlashan continues, “The landscape becomes very important to me - not only as the setting for these events but also in the hope of evoking an innate sense of familiarity with the viewer.”

 

Barry McGlashan was born in 1974 in Aberdeen on the North-East Coast of Scotland, where he lives and works. McGlashan studied painting at Gray’s School of Art, graduating in 1996. He taught in the painting department at Gray’s between 1998 and 2005. In 2001, McGlashan was awarded The Alastair Salvesen Scholarship through the Royal Scottish Academy. Through this pivotal scholarship, McGlashan was able to fund 3 months of travel through the United States. This trip became the starting point for several exhibitions based on this and subsequent journeys taking him through the Mid-West, the Southern States and West Coast. In recent years McGlashan’s fascination with exploration and discovery has led him on a journey through historical travelers, writers and at one point, famous artists in their studios. Examples of his work are held in numerous private and public collections including Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland; The Scottish Society, New York, USA; and the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland.