Graeme Todd, a visual artist and a lecturer in Edinburgh College if Art, was born in Glasgow in 1962.
Graeme studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, and later became a John Florent Stone scholar at Edinburgh College of Art. He has exhibited extensively in Britain and abroad, including several major solo shows. Recently his works have been nominated for the Sovereign European Art Prize 2008.
Over the years, acrylic paints covered with a thick, translucent layer of varnish have became Graeme’s trademark. Sinuous, uncanny shapes suggesting vegetation are put next to tiers of abstract fields of iridescent colour. Linear, meticulous drawings in Indian ink, depicting trees and ancient ruins, are quoted from German Renaissance etchings, whereas the clusters of nodules scattered on the surface seem to derive from another world altogether. Also the term “landscape” often appears next to Graeme’s works, although not in the most customary sense of the word.
Occupation?
An artist and a teacher.
What do you do all day?
I’m usually involved in a “mixture” of creating art, teaching and looking after children. Sometimes it’s difficult to find a good balance between all those things, but it’s important to try.
What are you doing today?
Today I was in Edinburgh teaching students at Edinburgh Art College and I also had a meeting with the Principal of the College to discuss research.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I quite like the social aspect of being a teacher and the antisocial side of being an artist. I enjoy being on my own, almost like a monk. So, from a social point of view, I appreciate both of those experiences. I’m not sure if I would like to be entirely one or the other. It’s a pleasure to be “a monk” for a long time but I also feel like discussing art with students.
And the worst thing?
There is certain amount of uncertainty involved; it is peculiar kind of life you lead as an artist, among peculiar kind of people and there are certain insecurities. It creates some tension as it is not done for fun or recreational reasons; it’s a very real thing to be an artist.
How did you get into it?
Well, I’ve never really done anything else, and I didn’t really make an effort to get out of it! I went from school as a kind of precocious pupil who liked art to a student, an artist and then a teacher. Sometimes it is quite clear for people from an early age what they want to do. I consider it to be a type of blessing as some people never find out what they want to do.
Who’s been the biggest influence on you, career-wise?
There isn’t really a specific person; on a different level there were my fiends who are also artists and whom I was obviously inspired by. My way into art wasn’t through nature, it was through looking at art. I don’t really have a “favourite artist” either, as it changes as you go along. If I could have a painting in front of me on the wall, I would like to have Hunters on the Snow by Breugel the Elder.
Did you find it hard to get your first solo exhibition?
It was in Dundee, I had my first solo show there; it took a few years after college to organise it. It was difficult in a way. When you are a young artist, you tend to put a lot of hope into your first exhibition, which may create anxiety. However, I always feel a bit nervous when having solo exhibition, even after all those years! I think it (anxiety) is not a bad thing.
What’s been your biggest achievement in your career so far?
There have been a few shows in museums which I’m quite proud of. My solo show in the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh in 2000 was probably the most important. Also the exhibition in Kunsthaus Glarus in Switzerland, two years after. They were both big shows of paintings and they required a lot of work.
Who is your favourite artist?
I couldn’t really point to my favourite artist. As I said before; it’s changing all the time. I don’t feel I need to choose, I admire many different great artists.
What’s your favourite artwork?
Again, I don’t have a favourite artwork. Although North European Renaissance, especially German, always makes a strong impression on me and I often refer back to it. I particularly admire its intellectualism and clarity.
Where would you like to go from here, career-wise?
In a way I would like to be one of those artists who have a late great period; if I could be like that…that would be something!
I would of course like more recognition and more exposure. But I also want to stick by my guns.
Do you have any advice for someone starting out as an artist?
Look in the mirror and ask yourself: “what do you really want?” Once you asked yourself, you can start working on an answer.
