Greg Bryce at Open Door

I went to another exhibition opening at The Open Door Gallery in Aberdeen tonight (my first ever blip was of an exhibition at the same gallery and by Greg's best friend Derrick). Its a really nice little gallery that opened recently on Chapel Street that tries to give new local artists an opportunity to get there work 'out there'. They also display a great variety of different pieces from photography and painting to sculpture and ceramics and their prices are quite reasonable. On the first Thursday of every month from 6-8pm they hold a promotion called 'First Thursday' offering 10% discount, drinks and nibbles. So the Gallery itself is well worth a visit!

This is a link to the gallery's website and Derrick Argent's work (my first Blip) is available to view on their Featured Artist page. http://www.opendoorgalleryaberdeen.com/

Currently they are exhibiting the work of Greg Bryce. Although normally I wouldn't really be into his style of work I found the longer I looked at it the more it grew on me. Having asked him about his main series of work he explained it was based around the perception of space and the passing of time and how each effects the other. The canvases were white with sharp broken lines (painted in with a knife) arranged around the bottom half in two or three contrasting colours. These lines then appeared to bleed up the canvas as if the structural form created in the bottom half was a fleeting vision or memory that was trying to escape.

Although I didn't necessarily take away the same interpretation as Greg had intended, the images were pleasing to look at simply in terms of their sense of space and colour- there was something quite architectural about them.

My favourite image however was quite different from his main series (the painting in the above photo) and was inspired by a visit to a Swedish forrest and rock strata. The paint is layered on in bands of strong slightly earthy colours and for the artist symbolises the passing of moments in life that eventually become the foundation of who you are.

Again, this is not what I took from the image. But does that really matter? I don't think so. All art is open for the viewers own interpretation and even if I didn't connect with the intended deeper meaning behind the works, I was able to appreciate them in my own way and make my own connections. So despite the slight lack of substance in this young artist's work, its still definitely worth a look even if just for the aesthetic value of his structural images.