‘Brecht’s Journal’ was a 2017 exhibition of new work by Derrick Guild. Guild is a conceptual artist who chooses paint and photography as his primary vehicle, undaunted by the mantra: painting is dead (or only allowed if done ironically), undaunted also by the weight of art history which must be supported by each mark made on canvas in his chosen medium. All art has to be made with conviction and courage but where an artist deploys a realist technique and the choice of what he paints becomes key and his triumphs hard won. There is no iconographical key to unlock meaning, each work has a rich, layered, visual presence which can be taken ‘at face value’; floating just beyond full comprehension.
About Derrick Guild
Born in 1963 in Perth, Scotland, Derrick Guild has been the recipient of many awards for his unique work. Guild’s paintings and objects reference European still life of the 15th to 19th centuries. The drama, allegory and naturalism inherent in this period of painting speak to Guild of ever-present dilemmas of the human condition. His works are classical, formal and at the same time contemporary in their sense of dislocation and ambiguity.
