Greer Ralston

Greer Ralston graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1987 with a BA (hons) in drawing and painting.
The human form was very much the inspiration for her work in the early years with the biggest influence coming from artists such as Spencer, Freud and Bacon.It was at this time Ralston received the Greenshields International Scholarship for figurative painting and her work was also exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of the BP Portrait Award.
After lecturing for a number of years she now works as a full-time artist but still runs a few private classes and workshops. Recently there has been a shift in subject matter and the artist has been focusing on large scale flower paintings. By concentrating on the sculptural three dimensional form of the flowers it moves them away from what can be perceived as a very domestic subject matter and elevates them to a powerful image in their own right. This runs parallel with Ralston’ s interest in Women’s Art History and in particular the work of Rachel Ruysch, Artemisia Gentileschi and Georgia O’Keeffe.
Coming through the current pandemic has brought about a new body of work the artist is using chiaroscuro to emphasise the coming out of the dark times and moving toward the light. This is both evident in the floral pieces and the new figurative work where the bodies sometimes merge together and the symbolism takes on a much deeper meaning.
In the new floral pieces where the flowers are suspended and spotlit, the flowers symbolise human relationships.