Each work has its own narrative, in which Jane highlights the details and themes of the piece. In 'Masters of Skullduggery,' Jane reimagines the infamous Burke and Hare as two hares surrounded by skulls and corpse lights as evidence of their misdeeds… “Oh, these two are really bad boys… William Hare and William Burke, show committed a series of murders in 1828. They sold the corpses to Dr. Robert Knox for dissection in his lectures in anatomy. To make things more nefarious, when captured Hare turned King’s evidence against Burke and Burke was hanged. His body was donated to the anatomy class; it can still be seen today. Hare disappeared. A fitting story for dark Scottish nights…”
A look back at some of our favourite artwork installations from Watson clients' homes, and our take on what made the artworks work so well in each space...
When the time comes to say goodbye to a precious artwork, whether to bring something new into your collection or to free up some cash, it’s important to find the right sales option. With so many art collectors now looking for their next piece online, EzelDotz’s web-based sales platform allows artworks to be discovered by collectors seeking works by their favourite collectable artists. EzelDotz also has a database of over 15,000 collectors to whom they will market new works, or help in their search for a particular artist’s work. They have recently been working on a brand new sales platform and will be relaunching soon! Watson has been working with EzelDotz for a number of years as a resale partner (previously under the name 'Sell My Artworks'.) We have even had the opportunity to display artworks owned by local Edinburgh clients at the gallery, by request of our own collectors. If you are looking to move on any works in your own art collection, visit EzelDotz to see how they can assist you as their new sales platform gets underway.
Local street artist Sleek’s Edinburgh workspace is located in the Queen Street Art Studio below Watson Gallery, and we enjoyed co-hosting his live painting demonstration… in keeping with his street art roots, he decided to work outside!
All of our guests had a fantastic time listening to David’s stories, behind-the-scenes adventures, and insights into his craft. We also had the opportunity to present a number of exclusive editions, which had been curated around the theme of David’s ‘Homecoming’ to Scotland. The series included three of David's rare and remarkable Scottish pieces, in a special smaller-scaled AP format. While these are not available for general release, if you would like to learn more about them you can contact the Watson Gallery team directly .
David's fluid, spontaneous style, used to capture the energy and spaces of the cities that inspire him, has been described as “sketching in paint”
Over the past two years, many businesses have learned to adapt to new ways of interacting with clients and customers, and Watson is no exception; during the UK’s various lockdowns, we were forced to rethink the experiences our art collectors would have when looking for their next painting or sculpture. We did find some interesting ways to increase our local accessibility, such as offering pavement-viewings of artworks through our windows – you can read more about that in a previous blog post. However, we also wanted to make sure our artworks were available for online purchase, and adding a “ready to buy” option on our website was key for us during the time we spent with the gallery door closed. We added additional information about each artwork, including an "in-situ" viewing room for each piece so a buyer could imagine the artwork in their home...
Peter Goodfellow is one of the best-known and most widely collected artists featured at the Watson Gallery. And, with a selection of his new releases on display, we have seen an ever-growing interest in his expressive, vibrant takes on the Scottish landscape.