About

Self Portrait 2009

Alastair de Grandis
Originally from Caithness I now live and work in Central Brittany. My current body of work explores the compelling disjunction between surface appearance and underlying reality. Working primarily in oils with a restricted and often muted colour palette, I invite the viewer into narratives that resonate with quiet mystery and introspection.

Through shifting light, quiet tension, and deliberate absence, I aim to evoke the texture of memory, longing, and belonging prompting reflection on the human condition within transformed or challenging environments.

For me art is about communicating directly with the viewer, about place, time, space, and the threads of human connection. Narrative is at the heart of my work, not as a fixed story, but as a felt resonance, an unfolding emotional landscape. I blend representational elements with abstraction and subtle surrealism to achieve a unique, atmospheric or subtly uncanny perspective.

Originaire de Caithness, je vis et travaille actuellement en Bretagne centrale. Mon œuvre actuelle explore la disjonction fascinante entre l’apparence de la surface et la réalité sous-jacente. Travaillant principalement à l’huile avec une palette de couleurs restreinte et souvent atténuée, j’invite le spectateur à des récits empreints de mystère et d’introspection. Par une lumière changeante, une tension discrète et une absence délibérée, je cherche à évoquer la texture de la mémoire, du désir et de l’appartenance, incitant à une réflexion sur la condition humaine dans des environnements transformés ou difficiles.

Pour moi, l’art consiste à communiquer directement avec le spectateur sur le lieu, le temps, l’espace et les liens humains. La narration est au cœur de mon travail, non pas comme une histoire figée, mais comme une résonance ressentie, un paysage émotionnel qui se déploie. Je mélange des éléments figuratifs avec l’abstraction et un surréalisme subtil pour obtenir une perspective unique, atmosphérique ou subtilement étrange.

Artist CV

Art Education
Attended Hereford College of Arts 2006 – 2010 short course programme and took courses in:- Life drawing, Portraiture, Still Life, Painting, Art History, and further courses on Abstraction, Exploring Colour and Texture, and Printmaking, focusing on monoprints.

Art Experience: Committee member of the Association Chaudron des Arts based in Mael Carhaix (22430) since 2021. Have gained experience of organising exhibitions and events and an annual art market.
2024 Summer exhibition sculptures by Innes Ferriera and photographs of Claude le Gal – ‘Stone roads’ – an exploration of slate mining in Central Brittany.
2025 Festival of basketmaking and the exploration of the heritage of basketry in Brittany.

Future Exhibitions and events
29 octobre – 12decembre 2025 Solo Exhibition Mael Carhaix
17 avril au 7 mai 2026 Group Exhibition, Maison des Arts Carnoët

Previous Art Exhibitions
2025:
20 – 21 /9 Salon des Arts, Bain-de-Bretagne
20 – 21 /9 Salon des Arts, Bain-de-Bretagne26-27/4 Salon Penm’arch (organised by Passions Bigouden)
18/7 – 10/8 Group exhibition at Huelgoat with Association Art Goat
20,21/9 Salon Bain de Bretagne
29/10 – 30/11 Solo Exhibition Mael Carhaix
2024: Group exhibition at Huelgoat with Association Art Goat
2023: Exhibition with 4 other artists Mael-Carhaix
Installation The Farm as part of exhibition ‘Farming Life’ showcasing the work of Lucien Pouedras and photographs of contemporary farm life in Central Brittany.
Group exhibition at Huelgoat with Association Art Goat
Group exhibition at Glen Mor Carhaix.

You can also find me at
https://www.instagram.com/a.de.grandis


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