Callum Innes creates abstract paintings that carry a powerful tension between control and fluidity. Dissolution is central to his practice: layers of deep pigments are brushed over with turpentine, breaking down sections of paint and leaving watery, trace elements, before being painted over again. Repeating this process of painting, dissolving and repainting multiple times, Innes builds depth and a sense of history: oblique panels of dense pigments become embedded and fortified, while tiny trickles or rivulets of liquified paint point to their underlying fragility. This meticulous approach to materials is carried across into the artists’ watercolours and pastels, in which pigment is built up into velveteen layers. Though Innes’s works may seem minimal or geometric at first glance, they are in fact always slightly “off kilter”, governed by imperfectly drawn lines and slightly softened shapes. This fallibility and humanity, put in contrast with the artist’s skill and precision as a painter, results in works of great poetic and contemplative power – cementing Innes’s place as one of the most significant abstract painters of his generation.
Callum Innes lives and works in Oslo, Norway and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Callum Innes
Untitled Lamp Black / Deep Purple Dioxazine
2023
oil on Birch Ply
180 x 175 cm / 70.9 x 68.9 in
CI TP 07 2023
Callum Innes
Untitled Lamp Black / Deep Purple Dioxazine, 2023
oil on Birch Ply
180 x 175 cm / 70.9 x 68.9 in
Callum Innes
Untitled Lamp Black / Deep Purple Dioxazine 2023
oil on linen
195 x 190 cm / 76.8 x 74.8 in
Callum Innes
Untitled Lamp Black / Alizarin Claret, 2023
oil on linen
180 x 175 cm / 70.9 x 68.9 in
Callum Innes
Untitled Lamp Black / Deep Violet, 2023
oil on Birch Ply
110 x 108 cm / 43.3 x 42.5 in
Callum Innes
Exposed Painting Caribbean Turquoise, 2022
oil on canvas
235 x 230 cm / 92.5 x 90.6 in
Callum Innes
Untitled Lamp Black / Caribbean Turquoise, 2021
oil on linen
195 x 190 cm / 76.8 x 74.8 in
Callum Innes
Paynes Grey / Chrome Yellow, 2011
watercolour on Canson Heritage 640gsm
56 x 77 cm / 22 x 30.3 in
Callum Innes
Untitled, 2018
pastel on Two Rivers paper
61 x 76 cm / 24 x 29.9 in
96 x 81 cm / 37.8 x 31.9 in framed
Callum Innes
Untitled, 2018
corrugated board, Gouache on Arches 600gsm HP
57 x 76 cm / 22.4 x 29.9 in
71.5 x 86 x 3.2 cm / 28.1 x 33.9 x 1.3 in framed
Callum Innes
Exposed Painting, Charcoal Black Yellow Orange Oxide, 2000
oil on canvas
247.5 x 237.5 cm / 97.4 x 93.5 in
Château La Coste, 2018
Callum Innes has been the subject of solo exhibitions at De Pont Museum, Tilburg; Kunsthalle Bern; Neues Museum, Nürnberg; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the ICA, London; the Scottish National Gallery, and the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Modern Art Oxford; the Whitworth, Manchester; IMMA, Dublin; Château La Coste, Provence and Kode, Bergen, where a new public artwork has just been installed on the building’s facade. His work can be found in the collections of Albright-Knox, Buffalo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; Museé des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; National Galleries of Australia, Canberra; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York and Tate Gallery, London.
Callum Innes
In Position, 2018
Château la Coste, Aix-en-Provence, France
Callum Innes
I’ll Close My Eyes, 2016-17
De Pont Museum, Tilburg, The Netherlands
Callum Innes
GENERATION: 25 Years of Art in Scotland, 2014
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
Callum Innes
Callum Innes, 2013
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
Callum Innes
Regent Bridge, 2012
Commissioned by the Edinburgh Art Festival and Ingleby Gallery
Callum Innes
From Memory, 2006
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Artist Callum Innes talks about his work for GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland.
TateShots travelled to Edinburgh to meet Callum Innes, one of the artists featured in Tate Britain's 'Watercolour' exhibition.
Callum Innes's solo exhibition at Kode, Bergen will include a permanent new installation on the museum's façade.
Callum Innes will appear in conversation with Fiona Bradley, Director of Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh on Friday 10 November at 5pm. The event is part of the programme for the inaugural Dublin Gallery Weekend.
