Versatile artist’s passionate homecoming

TAdrian Wiszniewski first came to prominence in the mid-Eighties, riding on the wave of aggressive optimism that favoured bold figurative work, then in fashion, especially in Glasgow.

The art market is famously fickle and easily manipulated by those with enough wealth and influence. A large auction of Wiszniewski’s work a few years ago showed how the market had changed, with work selling for a fraction of what it used to command.

Now Wiszniewski is back: bolder, stronger than 4before. This is work completed in the past year. The Compass, under its founder, Cyril Gerber, was one of the first to nurture Wiszniewski’s talents so it’s good to see him back here on home turf.

Wiszniewski has always been versatile. He is an artist who is compelled to work, who is passionate about what he does and is absorbed in the business.

So here are laser woodcuts, oils, acrylics and a series of white line drawings, on canvas primed with blackboard paint. Stylistically the lines, shapes and forms as well as the subject matter are all familiar. His material includes women, family and animals with the occasional foray into much darker material, such as Oubliette: the title comes from the French cells where prisoners were thrown to be forgotten. The oil/acrylic on canvas depicts the lower half of a man hanging from the ceiling of his cell, while a women and child crouch below. It’s an unusually dark piece, but gripping, and one wishes that Wiszniewski would explore this kind of territory.

As an absolute foil to Oubliette it is difficult not to mention Postcard from Japan, a tour de force in composition, with a riot of colour. It harks back to the French 19th-century idea of Japonisme in which oriental themes and influences were much in demand. There’s no hidden message and the work is purely celebratory but its apparent simplicity and elegance belie the intricate creative process.

The Compass Gallery was always a quirky space, retaining a domestic individuality so absent from most exhibiting spaces. Wiszniewski’s 30 or so works, many small in scale look comfortable — and at home.

Until April 4