LONDON, ENGLAND.-The Art Fund has given a grant of £4,250 towards the acquisition of a remarkable painting by one of Scotland’s foremost contemporary painters, Graeme Todd. The total cost of It is so Endless was £8,500, with additional funding coming from the National Collecting Scheme for Scotland.

It is so Endless is a striking representation – part real and part imagined – of the Klontal valley in Switzerland. With its precipitous cliffs, sublime peaks and mountain lakes, the area has long inspired artists and made a deep impression on Todd during his visit. In this portrayal of the valley, Todd’s enthusiasm for the landscape is distinctly felt. Energetic drifts and swags of dotted lines, iridescent glitter and linear drips of colour animate the surface, offering the viewer an exhilarating visual experience.

Todd works in a spontaneous manner, intuitively building up layers of varnish and curvilinear patterns painted in varying materials. He has likened the technique to the effect of a fly embedded in amber. The result is a painting that appears labour intensive and refined, yet impulsive. The immediately recognisable elements of the composition are a lake with trees and huts replicated from a postcard of the Klontal valley, and an imagined mountain range behind. By painting these elements using conventional perspective and combining them with flat areas of pure colour and abstract shapes, the artist plays with the illusion of space in the painting. Tension is created between location and spatial perception, and the viewer is confronted with images and forms that are simultaneously close and remote.

It is so Endless is a key work in Graeme Todd’s oeuvre, and is so highly regarded by both the artist and by the Andrew Mummery Gallery from which the painting was acquired, that they were only prepared to sell it to a public collection. The painting is of particular significance to the McManus Galleries, Dundee, because it is by an internationally acclaimed artist with a local connection. Graeme Todd was born in Glasgow and trained at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee 1979-85. He now teaches at Edinburgh College of Art.