INFO

Eòghann MacColl

After completing a Fine Art Degree with First Class Honours in Drawing and Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee in 1992. MacColl travelled throughout the Baltic States, particularly Estonia where he later participated in an exhibition of Scottish artists - Aurora Borealis, in the Draakoni Galerii, Tallinn,

1994. He curated a show of Estonian print-making in Edinburgh Festival after the success trip to Tallinn. In 1994 he also graduated from a Fine Art Masters course run by Winchester School of Art, England, based in Barcelona. Since then he has exhibited widely in group-shows in San Francisco 1996, Cardiff 1998, Scotland House in Brussels 2000- 2002 and numerous others. He is regularly showing pieces in the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh www.openeyegallery.co.uk

After three months working in Barcelona at the start of the year, he had a solo exhibition in the Vennel gallery, Irvine.

The next project is a return to Barcelona and a solo exhibition in October. Forthcoming projects
"Paral·lel"
Exhibition of assemblages and paintings will investigate concepts relating to the movement towards subsidiarity, which is currently evolving across Europe. This is a process in which both Scotland and Catalonia are involved and I intend to explore the parallels between the changes in both countries, specifically looking at concepts of cultural identity relating to language, power and control. This work is inspired by my experience of living in Barcelona.

A D'Art Galeria
Opening 3rd October 2002
"Megalithic metre" Exhibition relating to geometrics, numerics and astronomics, associated to ancient forms of measurement and communication, along with issues relating to power and control of information. This work is inspired by my investigations into the work of Professor Alexander Thom, archaeoastronomer and aeronautical engineer from Dunlop, Ayrshire. Dick Institute Kilmarnock
Opening 3rd May 2003
There will also be work in a two-person show in the Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow next March. For further details on future projects please contact via website.

REVIEW LINKS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/reviews/ pages/depressed_celts_launch.shtml

www.placidcasual.com

www.superfurry.com

REVIEWS

Eòghann macColl

We need correctives to the hubris of modern western society, by which species, language and ultimately, the Planet are being destroyed. Native peoples, so long colonized and exploited, are now being acknowledged and vindicated. As Lévi-Strauss observed, a Navaho's way of classifying animals by their movements (runners, fliers, crawlers) is at least as valid as our learned distinctions between mammals and reptiles, vertebrates and invertebrates.

Our ancestors, building awe-inspiring stone circles, egg shaped circles or rings with the recurring theme of Pythagorean triangles built in, had the impertinence to use a measure which was neither Metric nor Imperial. Eoghann MacColl's great-grandfather (Professor Thom) calculated this measure to be 829mm/2.729ft. For MacColl, this "megalithic metre" is a metaphor, challenging us to be humble in the face of continuity. His varied use of objets trouvés likewise challenges our cultural assumptions.

In Ferra dura - Burg a horseshoe appears amongst the earthy colours and textures of what might be a Catalan Smiddy (smithy)

As his name might lead us to expect, Eoghann MacColl derives much inspiration from his native landscape. One fruitful location has been the Knoydart peninsula, where a small community chooses to live on the edge of the Old World, a day's sailing from ultima Thule. The skies, seas and boats of the West of Scotland permeate compositions which may not explicitly be landscapes, such as You have to try harder to get higher.

MacColl's use of whimsical titles, not unrelated to the Scottish taste for pawky humour, encourages us to pursue criss-crossing lines of thought. It turns out that a belt, Belt - representation of a measuring device, can be substituted for a ruler, or the tawse as any child with a stinging hand could tell you! But there is an underlying serious intent. William Blake, another linear/literary artist, warned: the druidical mathematical proportion of Length, bredth, highth' which enabled the bulding of Stonehenge, Callanais etc was all too easily misapplied, 'whereby human sacrifice would have depopulated the earth.

J.P.Young June. 2001.

Qualidada:EP (Overhillrecords)

If there was an award for CD packaging of the year, the hand painted wall mountable wooden box housing this independent Scottish release knocks the competition into a gatefold sleeve.
The musical content is not so unique, but the four songs are pleasingly diverse, from the heavily accented rant on 'Diatribe' to the shimmering swagger of the closing 'Mar Sargasso'. Despite the Hispanic connotations, this is a decidedly Scots family affair written and performed by Duncan and Eoghann MacColl, which despite the proudly proclaimed rural roots still retains no small degree of urban suss.

Colin Somerville (4 stars)