Happy Valley (II)

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

20686

Title

Happy Valley (II)

Description

A figurative work of a contemporary female figure. An elderly woman with grey hair faces the viewer. Her appearance is that of a lady from the middle class milieu of Edinburgh. Standing facing out from the painting, she stands in trainers and jogging bottoms. Rather absurdly, she is wearing a Russian Lynx Belly Coat, easily identifiable with its white fur and black spots. A boxer dog stands alongside. Both figures are placed in an abstract space painted in rather surreal colours.

Artist / maker

Flannigan, Moyna

Date

1999

Size

200.00 x 135.00 cm

Type

Oil painting

Location

City Art Centre

Accession number

CAC2002/12

Moyna Flannigan was born in Scotland in 1963. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art 1981-85 and Yale University School of Art 1985-87. She was a Lecturer in Painting at Glasgow School of Art for 10 years until 2005. One of two paintings of fictional portraits for a City Art Centre exhibition, 'Locale' in 1999; they are typical of her work, based on wry observation of contemporary life. They are made without the use of models, working directly onto the canvas, from memory and experience. She gives each work a stamp of individuality, so that we imagine that we know the woman in trainers, tracksuit and fur coat walking the dog. Flannigan's use of colour is neither natural nor tonal, chosen to heighten our emotional response. In her use of harsh light and colour, she appears to have been influenced by contemporary video artists and photographers. The flat technique of painting can also be seen to draw on the Abstract Expressionist work of New York based painters in the 1950's, giving a sense of space through colour.

By permission of Moyna Flannigan

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Related subjects

Animals > Mammals > Dogs

Clothing and dress > Garments > Coats

People > Adults > Women