Category Archives: Miscellaneous

As a visual artist and a musician, I've always been interested in ways of combining paintings with sound. Tape recorders have been a lifelong obsession so it was natural for me to want to incorporate them in artworks. Here are a few examples.

 

OCEAN

When you turn the key and open the door, the tape on the inside plays the sound of waves - loud - from a speaker on the other side of the room. Inside the central Vedic Anahata or heart chakra (later appropriated as the star of David - much later), it says 'you are here'.

 

THE BIG DIPPER

When you activate the switch, the tape loop runs across the surface of the painting, making the stars twirl and playing the sound of children in a playground. So it could be a constellation or a fairground ride.

 

BIG DIPPER 2

This version is ten feet high and changes the dipper shape into a yin and yang symbol.

 

TRUNK

This one has headphones attached and when you switch it on, you'll hear somebody whispering some mystical words - in one ear only.

 

SONS OF THE DESERT

This one has the working pieces of a cassette player submerged in sand. Press the switch and the tape loop plays a Lawrence of Arabia type tune I wrote and recorded.

 

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

This also has the guts of a tape player amongst toys and model scenery. Again, press the switch and the tape loop plays a funhouse/circus type of tune of my own creation. It was battery operated.

Sound Paintings

A selection of my paintings and constructions which include tape loops.

More Miscellaneous >>

Tam O'Shanter murals by Greg Moodie

At the end of 2015 I was asked to design a series of murals at the Torphichen Inn, West Lothian, based on Robert Burns' poem Tam O'Shanter. I photographed local residents and collaged them together in what ended up being seven separate panels.

I was six panels in, with no plan for the seventh, when the landlord suggested a portrait of Burns. That sounded good to me. I flipped the original image horizontally so it would face the bar and added a few fun things. Now Burns is on the outside of the building too.

We launched the Tam O'Shanter Murals on March 18th 2016 at the Torphichen Inn with Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop. In the summer of that year I won 'Torphichen Citizen of the Year', which delighted me no end.

Tam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg MoodieTam O'Shanter murals by Greg Moodielaunch-herald-low

launch-national-low

hyslop

The following year I wrote a semi-fictional, or "factually dubious" account of the making of the murals, called 'Borrowing Burns'. You can order it here:

Borrowing Burns: The Tam O’Shanter Murals

The Tam O’Shanter Murals

At the end of 2015 I was asked to design a series of murals at the Torphichen Inn, West Lothian, based on Robert Burns' poem Tam O'Shanter. I photographed local residents and collaged them together in what ended up being seven separate panels.

More Miscellaneous >>

POETIC LICENCE

When I was a teenager one of my art college classmates complained to a tutor, “All the important art movements have happened. Everything’s been done.” The tutor said, “They haven’t been done by you.” I guess this made a lasting impression on me.

The idea behind ‘Poetic Licence’ was to take existing images of eminent Scottish writers, lift them out of the age in which they were created and stylistically subvert them, sometimes in not very subtle ways. The intended effect is to jolt you out of any preconceived ideas of time. Why shouldn’t Robert Burns and Liz Lochhead be sitting together in a pub?

Looking at the original oil painting of Sir Walter Scott, young people especially might find it hard to see beyond the 19th century formal wear and the austere old master treatment. Remove these and they might wonder who he is. If that sounds shallow, anything to get young people interested in writers is my defence.

So enjoy being jolted. I’ll stop short of singing ‘My Way’.

Greg Moodie, July 2022

Some of these paintings are now available to buy online. Click here for more information: https://gregmoodie.com/product-category/paintings/

Poetic Licence

Poetic Licence

'Poetic Licence' is my first exhibition of paintings, on display at the Scottish Poetry Library just off Edinburgh's Royal Mile from July 4th to October 12th 2022. It features 32 paintings of 12 notable Scottish poets in acrylic, collage and silkscreen depictions. The exhibition also contains a brand new version of Alexander Moffat’s legendary painting 'Poets Pub'.

More Miscellaneous >>

Debbie Downer and the mascara stains

Debbie Downer And The Mascara Stains

2020 has been a thoroughly miserable summer and Rose Garnett and I decided to commemorate it in song. Introducing 'SUMMER BUMMER: 13 happy summer classics rendered in depressing fashion' by Debbie Downer and the Mascara Stains. I'm thoroughly fed up and couldn't be happier about it. Stream it below.

More Miscellaneous >>

Holyrood magazine cover by Greg Moodie

At the beginning of October I was contacted by Mandy Rhodes, editor of Holyrood magazine, and asked to produce a cover which would tie in with the SNP autumn conference taking place in Perth the following week.

I was asked to include some of the new round of SNP folks, so you should be able to spot Tommy Sheppard, Mhairi Black and Alyn Smith, as well as new deputy leader Angus Robertson and a host of others.

Holyrood Magazine

At the beginning of October I was contacted by Mandy Rhodes, editor of Holyrood magazine, and asked to produce a cover which would tie in with the SNP autumn conference taking place in Perth the following week.

More Miscellaneous >>

stripped-for-action

lunatic-fringe

Stripped For Action

Two pieces that appeared in the National, the first announcing the Striptease crowdfunder and the second the launch of the book.

More Miscellaneous >>

national-clip-low

Citizen Of The Year

Having completed the Tam O'Shanter Murals in West Lothian's Torphichen Inn, I was delighted to discover I'd won the Torphichen Citizen of the Year award for 2016.

More Miscellaneous >>

plentiful-satiredissection dissection3 dissection1 dissection2

Election Dissection Launch

This marked the launch of Election Dissection on June 4th 2015 at the Leiper Gallery in Glasgow. The red shirt image courtesy of Peter McNally, the others were taken by Herald photographer Martin Shields.

More Miscellaneous >>

paprazzi Great shot by Peter McNally taken outside the Leiper Gallery in West George Street Glasgow, just before the launch. 140904-181110-pm_1000 140904-182332-pm_1000 140904-183357-pm_1000 140904-195440-pm_1000 Zara Gladman aka Lady Alba and friends entertain. 1904103_10152367773513333_2604770479238252452_n With author Raymond Soltysek. 10646759_10203516715811071_6859575279435631288_n With fellow cartoonist Terry Anderson. 10646920_10203515192172981_1471662614537200658_n Signing a Yes flag with Zara Gladman. blairjenkins Earlier the same day I met head of the Yes team, Blair Jenkins.. stuart-bremner And graphic designer extraordinaire, Stewart Bremner.

Launch of Greg Moodie Versus The Union

Images taken on September 4th 2014, two weeks before the first independence referendum and two months before we had a pro-independence daily newspaper.

More Miscellaneous >>

Play and Subversion

This is an excerpt from Caledonian Dreaming by author and political analyst Gerry Hassan. In a section titled A Scottish Sense of Play and Subversion, he features my Margaret Curran in Space cartoon. He also mentions Rose Garnett and I, as well as National Collective and BBC Scotlandshire. I was delighted, as play and subversion are my two favourite pastimes.

You can get the book here.

Play and Subversion

Play And Subversion

An excerpt from Caledonian Dreaming by author and political analyst Gerry Hassan.

More Miscellaneous >>

All text and images are copyright Greg Moodie. Do not use without express permission.