No lockdown slowdown for ‘outsider’ artist Hugh Loney

It's the ritual all "outsider" artists confront on a daily basis - they get on with it and do what they have to do, no matter what the rest of the world is up to.

In 2000 when I interviewed him for The Herald, he recalled the very first time he picked up a brush and added a splash of colour to something. That was when, as a four-year-old growing up in Glasgow's Calton area, he spontaneously decided to brighten up a black toy train he'd received at Christmas.

“That was the start and I haven't stopped since," he said.

Twenty years on, the only thing different is that there's considerably less floor space available in his Ayrshire home which also doubles as his studio.

He's been busy!

Found objects continually fascinate and challenge him. In his hands, and when the available light is right, a discarded umbrella becomes a thing of great beauty; the remnants of an old plastic chair washed up on the beach, when married to four sea-tumbled tree branches is turned into something that would not look out of place at the Burning Man event in Navada.

When paint brush or pen and ink determine the theme, he might turn his attention to black birds - particularly Crows - studying them in detail until he has worked that out of his system and discovered something else intriguing to fire his imagination.

There is a stunning collection of almost psychedelic self portraits in silhouette. When viewed together as a group, it's difficult not to feel you'll need to have the complete set!

Loney is driven - there is no other way to describe the way he approaches his art. It is a natural phenomenon; nothing is created because of the demands of "the market" or any gallery owner pushing him to have twenty big canvasses finished in time for the next opening.

He simply can't help himself; as each day dawns, who knows what direction he or it may take.

Some of the most exciting work he has produced in recent years has been inspired by walks along the local seashore.

“On Irvine Beach, there are little streams that trickle out on to the shore and I noticed one had traces of coal dust which made interesting patterns where it merged with the sand.

"I took photographs and played around them, zooming in and out when they were on my laptop. When I got close-in I grabbed a second shot of that then enlarged it by projecting the image up onto paper, took a tracing then filled the detail in. It’s amazing what you can find if you keep your eyes wide open,” he says. 

“The beach has thrown up so much for me. I did sculptures there for around ten years from found objects that had just washed up and presented themselves.”

He enjoys more fun than a schoolboy at the zoo when he is out and about with his camera. That study of the umbrella is a stunning image.

Intrigued by the surface texture of Cantaloupe Melons on display in a local shop, he took close-ups, projected them onto paper, took a tracing and produced another set of big, bold, stunning black and white images.

Angels too have featured over the years and are a subject re-visited in a recent burst of activity.

“I found that if you hold winged sycamore ‘helicopter’ seeds up to the light, you can see the veins inside and they look just like insect wings. When photographed and projected onto a surface, they can look like angel wings if you place a human figure in the middle.

“We went out and projected some of those onto buildings, including Glasgow Cathedral and The Magnum Centre in Irvine, before it was demolished.”

Gifted with a free-spirited approach, he's unafraid to indulge in a spot of "what if?" So, the unconventional will often make and appearance, such as cone-shaped paper hats over five feet long. Recently, he has also been experimenting with bleach - and bitumen. His preoccupation with conical hats came from studying the work of Goya.

“I noticed some peasants in a painting that were wearing them and wondered about that, then I discovered they were first invented by a monk, John Duns Scotus in the 13th Century who believed that the pointed shape of the hat would, in some way, act as a conductor or funnel for gathering knowledge from a higher force in the heavens above, which would flow from the pointed tip into the brain of the wearer.

"He was Scottish, from Duns, and apparently the Dunce’s cap as it later became known, derived from that, and those given one to wear were not being singled out to be made a fool of, but to be given a chance to improve their knowledge and intelligence!

“I made mine five feet six inches tall so they have a fair reach high above your head. They are covered in newspaper cuttings.”

Loney continues to be admired and collected by a group of art lovers who are fascinated by all that he produces. They are regular visitors to his home, keen to keep up with output.

Fellow artist, Bruce Mackintosh from Kilwinning who is part of the Model X Media group, has been following his life and work for several years and documenting developments, for a film which is nearing completion.

Meanwhile, a fan based in Malaysia who has visited on several occasions and interviewed him at length, is currently writing a book on his intriguing life story.

“I remember when I was young and we lived in the Calton, my parents' friends and relatives would gather for a bevvy and a sing-song after the pubs shut at the weekend. There was one character they called Hoagy as his party piece was Hoagy Carmichael songs.

“One night I was huddled up with my sister in the bed recess where all the coats had been thrown down in the same room - I must have been about six years of age - and it was Hoagy’s turn to give them a song. Midway through, he forgot the words and was mortified, even though everybody else joined in to help him out.

“He threw his head back and let out one of those blood-curdling howls. It was a cry of sheer despair. It rattled my bones. I was trembling.

“A few years later that image had stayed with me. His powerful reaction was like the truth; the pain was coming out and there was an honesty in it.

"When I began to paint more seriously, I always felt that if I could capture the essence of that moment through my work, I will have done alright – to put that same truth into the marks that I make.

“Richard Gere says that if you want to be a Buddhist, you have to do the work.

“I’m still working at being an artist and happy to be putting the hours in.”