THE DUNDEE COURIER April 1st 2010
GALLERY'S TRIUMPHANT DEBUT AT FAIR
By Joy Watters
DUNDEE'S QUEEN'S Gallery has returned triumphant from its debut at the Glasgow Art Fair, writes Joy Watters, arts reporter.
The country's most prestigious contemporary art fair outside London attracts a vast range of buyers and the Queens contribution did much to fly the flag for Dundee and the east coast with several ofthe featured artists either resident or having trained in the city.
Gallery owner Joyce McGlone said they had had their appetites whetted by art fairs before but this was their first time in Glasgow and they were delighted to have sold so much.
This year 46 selected galleries from Scotland, the UK, Europe and beyond showed work for sale by 1000 artists, emerging talent to well- established. Now in its 15th year, the fair is in the heart of the city housed in white tented pavilions in George Square.
One of the first sales for the Queens was a work by renowned painter Jack Knox, who after studying at Glasgow School of Art and Paris came to teach at Duncan of Jordanstone in 1965.
The work of Frank To also proved popular after training at Huddersfield he took a Masters at Duncan of Jordanstone. Strongly influenced by the Old Masters, is approach to painting involves careful preparation of the canvas and he won the Deloitte Prize at the SSA exhibition in Dundee last year.
Catriona Miller has become one of the country's most prominent and original iconic painters and provoked a lot of interest at the Queens stand. She is now collected worldwide and since her sell- out degree show in 2005 at Gray's Aberdeen has become a favourite with the contemporary art buying public.
"It was gratifying that the work was so well received. A lot of people are now using the Scottish Art Council's Own Art scheme for purchasing work which offers interest- free credit up to £2000," said Joyce.
Anyone wanting to see the sort of work that took the buyers' fancy can visit the Queens Gallery in the Nethergate where on show is Paul Telford in a mixed exhibition. It runs until April 17.