Nameless – Renaissance Art in 21st Century Moray

Andy Warhol. Damien Hirst. Tracey Emin. All famous contemporary artists, likely to be known more for their names and media-fuelled reputations rather than their individual art works. Fame is the the currency of the modern art world, but it is the antithesis of the current exhibition at the Moray Art Centre, Findhorn.  ‘Nameless’, conceived and curated by Moray Art Centre’s founder and current director Randy Klinger, showcases largely unattributed Renaissance drawings and sketches from the British Museum’s collection, The Courtauld Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland.

The Nameless exhibition has been timed to open concurrently with related exhibitions covering the same period at The British Museum, London,The Uffizi in Florence and the Courtauld Gallery’s exhibition ‘Michelangelo’s Dream’ also in London, and has been generously supported by the Foyle Foundation, an independent UK-based grant-making trust.

It was perhaps towards the end of the 14th Century that artists increasingly made use paper, pen & ink to develop their ideas and their concepts for paintings and sculptures as a means to an end, rather than as an artistic end in itself.  These ‘sketches’ give us a fascinating insight into the creative process of these anonymous artists, and the Nameless exhibition brings a selection of these incredibly captivating images to the North of Scotland for the very first time. A rather wonderful coup I think.

As Director Randy Klinger explained, “The impetus for the Nameless exhibition has been driven by the sense that particular insights may be gained from engagement with Renaissance drawings that have evaded definitive attribution. In Nameless, the selected drawings are all anonymous or insecurely attributed, despite belonging to what many see as a ‘celebrity’ period in the history of art”.

Thus the exhibits offer the viewer a source of pleasure, liberated from the intellectual baggage of confirmed historical attribution, allowing the drawings to be viewed and enjoyed ‘as is’, without the dual prisms of reputation and expectation.

Despite the age of these 15th and 16th Century drawings, the loose lines, trials and errors of form all combine to bring a sense of immediacy to the exhibits.  These unknown artists of the Renaissance would not have had any appreciation that their developing, and very personal, ideas would ever see the light of a exhibition space and be subject to critical public assessment. The drawings on display at Moray Art Centre were created purely for the artists’ eyes only, and we are therefore most privileged to be given this opportunity to appreciate the results of their very personal endeavours.

Nameless will be at the Moray Art Centre, Findhorn until 22 August 2010.

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