Robert Reddick

Past to the Future

line drawing by Robert Reddick

Robert Reddick who is 78 years old has been coming along to Project Ability's workshops for adults with learning disabilities for the last four years.

During this time Robert has created a huge volume of work and has had his artwork featured in many group exhibitions, but this is his first solo exhibition.

Robert enjoys working with various art materials and mediums, but he tends to favour drawing and sketching in pencil and ink. As well as working at Project Ability, Robert also creates work continuously at home. He tends not to throw anything out and improvises with paper, string, cartons and boxes. Over the years he has made toys, cars, trains, ornaments and even dolls house furniture.

In this particular exhibition, Robert has explored a number of themes... including the changing seasons, modes of transport (from the past and the future), historical events, and townscapes (particularly Old Glasgow). He is also very fond of depicting Scottish holiday resorts like Rothesay and Ayr, and historic figures (e.g. Robert Burns), so many of his drawings have a patriotic feel to them.

canvas

Robert often works from memory, and with intricate precision can draw buildings that he remembers from his childhood that have been knocked down and replaced with new shops and car parks. He sometimes also includes words and text in his pictures which add a further layer of meaning (or mystery!) to his work. Robert Reddick's work inspires the viewer to search for clues… people want to know more about what he was thinking about when he was creating his work as so much of it seems to be steeped in memories…

Commenting on how he feels to have his artwork exhibited Robert said, "Although I am quite a private person I am happy to have my work displayed in my own exhibition."