Monologue (Black) 4

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Callum Innes
Born Edinburgh, 1962

Monologue (Black) 4, 2009
Oil on linen

Purchased 2010 from the Ingleby Gallery with support from The Art Fund, National Collecting Scheme for Scotland and the National Fund for Acquisitions
Museum number 2010-1

The Monologue paintings are some of the rarest within Innes's practice. Each is produced in a single session, lasting up to twelve hours. Innes has described them as 'instant paintings' as they cannot be reworked over weeks or months as he does his other paintings. As with all Innes's work the evidence of the hand of the artist is almost imperceptible.

The painting evokes a powerful response. It evokes natural phenomena of falling rain, mountain ranges, cave formations or the shadowy depths of a forest. Yet its massive brooding forms appear malevolent. Elemental, hovering between abstraction, figuration and landscape the work reveals new readings with every viewing.