Limited prints by contemporary Scottish artist Michael Fullerton await you!
For his exhibition at the City Art Centre, contemporary Scottish artist, Michael Fullerton was invited to create a new screen-print in response to the city’s Fine Art Collection. The work is a reinterpretation of John Thomson’s 1828 painting ‘Abbotsford, The Home of Walter Scott’, which depicts an idyllic view of Scott’s residence in the Scottish Borders, where he lived between 1817 and 1825.
These limited editions will make a charming edition to any home. Each print has been produced on silkscreen on somerset velvet paper and signed by the artist. Prints can be purchased directly from the gallery shop, either unframed (£295) or framed (£395).
Michael Fullerton
Michael Fullerton, signs new screen-prints at Edinburgh's City Art Centre
Fullerton was particularly drawn to the coalescence of Thomson and Scott, two pivotal figures in shaping Scottish identity during the Enlightenment. Whilst Walter Scott helped popularize a romanticized vision of Scotland through his novels and poems, Thomson captured the drama and atmosphere of the Scottish landscape in his paintings. Both helped to revive a sense of national culture and heritage that endures today.
By rendering the image in shimmering gold, Fullerton reflects upon the romance and idealism of both the subject and the protagonists of the original work, while also capturing at an illusionary, mirage-like quality that suggests the fluid and often unreliable nature of cultural memory and national identity.
The works title ‘Hilltop Hotel’ refers directly to a hotel in Carlisle, Cumbria. Fullerton worked in the hotel in 2023, during a period when it was being used to accommodate people seeking asylum in the UK. Fullerton expands on the concept of the “hilltop” as a metaphor, further evoking romanticism as well as ideas of military vantage points, and sites of communication and observation – recurring themes within his practice.