GWEN HARDIE (BRITISH, b.1962), 'HEAD', 1985, contemporary Scottish school, oil on canvas, (190 x 190cm). NOTES: Gwen Hardie’s work engages with figuration and the act of perception. She first gained attention with her large scale tightly cropped portraits of women. Her magnifications of skin lit by natural light resemble light effects in the landscape and micro/macro views of cells/earth. Observing from life, she employs aspects of classical painting and colour theory to render a life like presence. Intimate and monumental, the body-image shifts back and forth perceptually between an atmospheric illusion and a thing of gravity, real and tangible. PROVENANCE: Gifted by the artist to ESOP.