Painter Anna King tells why barren spaces and discarded objects inspire her

Published on Friday 29 May 2009 13:58

IT'S HARD TO SEE WHY SOMEONE would convert an old barn in the Borders, miles from the nearest village, into a squash court. But it's easier to see why several decades later it makes the perfect studio for Anna King.

The 25-year-old painter is drawn to the places most of us overlook: waste ground and derelict buildings, cracked concrete and peeling paint. She fell in love with the barn – converted into a squash court in the 1930s and long disused – as soon as she saw it. "It looks just like something I would paint," she says.

King, a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, hit the headlines in 2007 when she won the inaugural Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting. Although she was just 23 at the time, the artist John Lowrie Morrison and his panel of judges were so impressed at her distinctive vision that they awarded her the top prize of 20,000.

Now, anticipating the announcement of another winner on 12 June, King reflects on the last two years. "The prize definitely had a big impact," she says. "The publicity was very good in terms of getting people to know who I am and see my work. And the money completely takes the pressure off. The award is about helping you develop, and being able to take time out to travel and try things out has been brilliant."

It also enabled her to pay the rent on the barn-squashcourt-studio a year in advance, but King has no intention of resting on her laurels. "The important thing is to keep on developing, trying to move forward. If ever I felt I was just stuck doing the same thing, I'd stop."

In fact, the fruits of her development are all around us in King's paintings: a lighthouse on Shetland, an abandoned car park in Bradford, an old quarry on the way to Galashiels, the interior of a disused hospital she found in East Germany.

And, on the desk, a panorama-style photograph of her latest project, a former factory in North Edinburgh. "I couldn't really hang around doing sketches because there was a security guard asking what I wanted," she grins. "Generally when you say you're an artist they leave you alone, they think you're a bit weird."

Though her style – patches of colour against a spacious white background, clarified by scratches or fine lines – is now well established, she admits she struggled to find her way at first. "In second year at art school, we were thrown in at the deep end, doing self-motivated work. You could do absolutely anything you wanted, it sounds free and amazing, but it can be quite hard when you don't know what you want to do."

A breakthrough came when she went on exchange to Holland in third year. Living in a tower block in Utrecht, looking out on the flat Dutch landscape and its acres of sky, she started to look at cityscapes in a new way. Back in Dundee, she noticed afresh the patch of waste ground by the Tay she passed every day on her way to college. Soon she was painting it.

Now, she says, she notices everywhere things she wants to paint: abandoned sheds, freight containers, discarded objects like a suitcase or a broken chair. Sometimes, she will glimpse a possible subject through a car window: "That happens quite a lot – 'Stop the car!'". Recently, she has become interested in interiors after exploring some old tin sheds near her home.

King was born in Shetland and grew up in the Borders, both of which, she believes, may have fed her love of open spaces. At school, she was taken to see Alison Watt's seminal show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. "They were the first modern paintings I'd seen, they made a big impression."

"When I decided at school I wanted to go to art college, I never thought I would be good enough to be an artist, I just wanted to see how far it went. It was only when my degree show sold out and galleries were showing an interest, I realised that maybe I could do that for a living. I'm so lucky I get to do whatever I want, spend all my days painting."

Her work is now in demand, and she is careful not to overstretch herself: "You've got to be good at saying no to people sometimes." She is currently showing at Wall Projects in Montrose, finishing work for a summer show in Bath and beginning work on a solo show for Edinburgh's Open Eye Gallery in November – not to mention recording an album with her band, The Dull Fudds.

The Jolomo Award also enabled her to buy a campervan which functions as a travelling studio. Last year, she travelled to the former East Germany in search of the country's post Communism derelict factories and dying villages.

"It's so important for me, for most artists I think, to go somewhere different, get yourself out of your routine. I always find it so inspiring to go somewhere new. I explored all these abandoned buildings, whole towns where every third building was abandoned. It's quite sad, although I don't find it sad, I think it's beautiful."

Other breaks from routine have included two residencies at "the Watchie", the Watch House in the North-east village of Catterline which was once Joan Eardley's studio. King admits that the building's history was "slightly intimidating. It is a special place, with photos of the artists and an attic full of art books. But it's best not to think about these things too much. If you start to compare yourself that's never going to be a good thing."

&#149 Anna King's work is at Wall Projects, Montrose, until 12 June. The Jolomo Award Winners 2009 will be announced on 12 June.