* CLAIRE HARKESS RSW (SCOTTISH B. 1970 - ),
POLAR BEAR
watercolour on paper, signed, dated 1998 label verso
26cm x 18cm
Mounted, framed and under glass.
Label verso: Gallery 41, Edinburgh
Note 1: In 1998, Claire worked as Artist in Residence with The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. While at Edinburgh Zoo she was filmed as part of the BBC "Ex-S" series and a fascinating documentary about her work was broadcast in November of that year. This work is a portrait of a specific animal at Edinburgh Zoo and it's likely that many Edinburgh residents and visitors to the Zoo will recognise this animal..
Note 2: Claire Harkess was born in Ayr, Scotland, graduating from Glasgow School of Art in the early 1990s. In recent years her painting has taken her to fragile lands to study and interpret life on the edge. Antarctica, Outback Australia and St Kilda are all places where, in such extreme environments, survival is difficult and the balance of life is delicate. Harkess has also worked on the Galápagos Islands, made famous by Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of the Species’. This isolated volcanic outpost remained relatively untouched by man, evolving to become one of the World’s unique ecosystems. The balance present in nature is clearly communicated through Claire's paintings. Painting in watercolour or gouache offers a unique directness; the essential qualities of light and energy present in the natural world are the very essence of the medium itself. The delicacy of her palette and oriental economy of her mark-making creates a subtle tension representing a world that is ‘holding still’, giving a sense of freedom, spirit, time and place. Claire's work is exhibited at The Scottish Gallery, where her most recent highly successful solo show was in July 2020, and at other prestigious galleries around the UK.