Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow is a group exhibition at The Alchemy Experiment showcasing work by Glasgow-based artists Alice Campbell, Jennie Bates/Innes Mowat, Abbie Lois, and Lorna Sinclair.

They met a decade ago while studying at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee and have been friends and collaborators since. This show reflects on their parallel development as artists, drawing links and highlighting contrasts between their work - and showcases how their friendship, and the support they receive from each other while navigating the art world, has allowed their respective practices to flourish. 

A theme of mythology and folklore runs through the work of Alice Campbell and Abbie Lois (who also share a studio).

Abbie Lois calls attention to the inherent links between folk tales and our land and its inhabitants, and points to lessons that can be learnt from these often ancient stories.
Similarly Alice Campbell explores stories with a folk, mythic or sacred origin, predominantly through painting. She takes inspiration from her own experiences and observations, and (currently) the imagery found in medieval illuminated manuscripts. 

Like Alice Campbell, Lorna Sinclair makes large scale paintings, where rich botanical scenes, seascapes and open windows spill from her canvases and paper. Her paintings are spontaneous and
process-driven and directed by colour.

​

Jennie Bates is also led by her process, creating bold and layered screen prints, working intuitively with cut-paper collage and mark making to create works with energy and subtle symbolism, and often a feeling of nostalgia. She also works under a pseudonym, Innes Mowat, making work influenced by the fallibility of memory and subjectivity of human experience.

All of the artists play with world-building or alternative realities in their work. Alice Campbell creates her own characters and surroundings, with scant regard to the logic and order of the real world. Abbie Lois creates her own interpretation of tales hidden in our landscapes and/or cultural memories, weaving in diverse references to create a new visual language, while Innes Mowat draws links between science, religion and other narratives we use to explain the world, making three-dimensional diorama boxes which represent parallel worlds. Lorna Sinclair paints ethereal landscapes and interior spaces that are rooted in reality but reimagined and transformed through her work. Likewise Jennie Bates often creates idealised interpretations of real spaces, filtered through her own imagination.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow brings together these artists for their first group show, showcasing works which highlight the past, subvert the present or speculate about the future; and celebrate ten years of connection.