Neal Hanna at the Fraser Gallery
By Lucien Willey
Hanna, Apple Blossom, Carrot Hill, undated, oil on canvas, 55 x 39 inches. Image courtesy of the Fraser Gallery.
It’s Valentine’s season once again, and love of all sorts is in the air, from the romantic, to the platonic, to the alleged love of learning supposedly found in the hearts of all St. Andrews students. In this spirit of love, I felt it would be appropriate to stay close to home and to share with you one of the places in town that I love, and that I believe is one of the town’s better-kept secrets: the Fraser Gallery. This expansive-yet-cozy gallery, tucked into the Eastern part of South Street, has consistently put on exceptional exhibitions from a diverse group of artists. In each exhibition, there is something for everyone
At the start of February, the Fraser Gallery opened a new exhibition of works by Neal Hanna, the award-winning Scottish-Iraqi painter. Hanna was drafted out of college at the age of 19 to fight in the Iran-Iraq war. He managed to win a scholarship to leave Iraq and study art in the UK, which he did from 1983-89, when he briefly studied in Florence before returning to Dundee and the rural Angus countryside. There, he found inspiration in the dramatic scenery and constantly shifting weather of the East Scottish coast.
His oeuvre of work is quite broad, stretching from award-winning portraits to abstract landscapes. His portraits come in extraordinary variety of both style and medium. You have pieces like the the simply-titled Model, which depicts a nude woman sitting on some indeterminate form of chair. She looks down and away from the viewer, and leans slightly forward, implying the detachment of an artist’s study. This feeling is reinforced by the use of simple black and grey pastels on paper. Upon closer inspection, it’s more than just a simple study. The lines are abstract and squiggly, only making sense when consolidated. The viewer is left to fill in the blanks. What is the expression of the model; is she smiling or is she frowning? Is she bashful, or unashamed? In this piece, Hanna captured the essence of the creative process. We are invited to imagine ourselves as the artist and create the finished work in our minds eye.
Hanna, Model, undated, pastel on paper, 16.4 x 11 inches. Image courtesy of the Fraser Gallery.
Hanna also does far more tradition portraiture. Hanging in the first room of the gallery, proudly visible if you peek through the windows from South Street, is Pink Hat. This large painting (approx. 4 ft x 3 ½ ft), depicts a woman in a rosy dress and pink hat, sitting in a teal chair. Her head is slightly tilted, and she looks straight at the viewer with an expression that seems slightly sad. The clothes and the staging feel slightly dated, but in such a way that you can’t quite place the bygone era. As opposed to filling in the blanks of the art, the viewer is expected to fill in the blanks of the story. Is she sad, and if so, why? Why does she hold a rose? Was she stood up on a date, or just separated from a lover? Is she just possessed by romantic melancholy?
Hanna, Pink Hat, oil on board, 47.25 x 39.38 inches. Image courtesy of the Fraser Gallery.
Hannah’s landscapes take the same tack as his portraits in many ways. Mostly of the lowland Scottish countryside, both inland and coastal, his depictions of forested hills and rocky beaches battered by white-capped waves can often be abstract. They are composed of dramatic brushstrokes that almost seem at war with one another; at a glance, they seem to depict nothing more than a whirlwind of paint. However, the cohesion when you step back is not a representation of a landscape itself, but the feeling of a landscape, its inherent drama. If I was describe these works in one word, it would be “kinetic.
His work reminds me of another favorite artist of mine, David Mackie Cook, whose seascapes and floral meadows are done with a similar dramatic, energetic abstraction. He is scheduled to headline the Fraser gallery’s next major exhibition in mid-March. Unlike Cook, Hanna’s works are far more diverse. He demands that the viewer takes the time to think about each piece and fill in any blanks with their own thoughts. Consequently, he discourages passive viewership.
So, even as Valentine’s day comes and goes in a tornado of chocolate, roses, and student-society speed dating events, I recommend that you make a little bit of room in your heart for the Fraser Gallery. Walk down South Street and take a peek at what they have on display. Bring your date there after a nice cup of tea or coffee and determine what you both see in the paintings. Take a friend there in place of a romantic interest, or go yourself and commune with the art through the purity of your singular perspective. There’s no wrong way to enjoy art, other than to not - so go to the Fraser Gallery. Perhaps I’ll see you there.