Kate Whiteford

Kate Whiteford, born in 1952 in Glasgow, is an artist of extraordinary talent, and one of the few British artists dealing successfully with diverse media. Among her most acclaimed work are large public pieces (such as the much-publicised monumental carving at Calton Hill, Edinburgh, for the TSWA 3D project), as well as site specific installations and paintings (including her recent exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in November, 1988).

Uniting all the work in different media, is the common use of what appears as an ancient, runic symbology. Whiteford’s paintings, divided distinctly between images created with dense, deeply-black charcoal, and, more recently, large, optically jarring red and green work – all exploit these basic signs for their complex and beautiful presence.

Whiteford’s charcoal pieces, entitled Shadows contain these shapes in muted form. From the deep black emerges a single serpent, a fish, a comb, an arch. These images are archetypes -ancient symbols culled from a common culture. Their meanings are lost, or non-specific, but they are familiar signs, raised from unconsciousness and re-made.

The Maze Series are red and green paintings that experiment with two ideas – the familiar symbology of displaced yet culturally significant signs and that of colours seemingly bouncing off each other. Combined, these ideas collaborate to offer a new meaning to Whiteford’s work. The jarring complimentaries which resist the central focus are an intentional device creating movement on the margins of vision, and in this way drawing attention to the act of looking. This play on perception and memory is a central concern of Whiteford’s work. By burning the images onto the retina, so that they remain for that instant of closing the eyes, Whiteford gives life to these signs, and scores their eternal significance into our memory.