EXHIBITIONS

The exhibition collects a body of work made by Freemantle during a 7-month residency with the The Hugo Burge Foundation in Scotland, where he occupied the former studio and cottage of renowned artist and musician, the late Rory McEwen. Freemantle’s work will be presented in conversation with a selection of works by Jackson Hlungwani.
 

During the intensive residency, Freemantle was able to dive deeper into an already existing relationship with nature. The paintings harnessed their colours from the late autumnal blaze as he began the residency in 2023, each day introducing a new colour into his palette. Not long after he arrived he began incorporating wood carving into his practice. He was gifted a century-old Cedar tree which fell during storm Arwen (November 2021) on the Marchmont Estate nearby the studio and set about carving it in sections with a chainsaw, grinder and various hand tools. The surface of the wood was then charred and finally finished with beeswax.

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This body of work takes inspiration from Jackson Hlungwani, an artist Freemantle has long admired, as well as Joseph Beuys, Japanese Zen painting, Gutai and Abstract expressionism, African ritual masks and iconography, Italian Renaissance devotional art, Totem poles, Celtic megalithic monuments, Isamu Noguchi, Lee Ufan, Constantin Brâncuși, Mid-20th century British sculpture as well as Greek and Roman sculpture (specifically ruins).