Suriyavamsa (John Lammie) was born in 1964 on Monyquil farm in Arran, Scotland, where he lived until he moved to Glasgow as a teenager to study Geology at Glasgow University. He never completed his degree and describes this time as a dark period in his life. Later he pursued an interest in Buddhism, was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order, and was given the name Suriyavamsa, which means ‘In the lineage of the sun’.

We don’t always have the chance to browse an artist’s sketchbook or to follow the process of how they build up a piece of work stage by stage. Going through the pages of Suriyavamsa’s workbook we can see some initial ideas, some of which have come to fruition and some which have remained as ideas. We get the sense of the artist taking notice of everything he sees and being influenced not only by many artistic sources but by seemingly insignificant items discarded in the street.

“The work itself can never be fitted wholly into the categories that your mind normally works with, while at the same time there is something recognisable that the viewer can relate to.”

In a work like Black Shag, for example, the piece is built up through a process of gathering from many sources, in order to add layers of meaning and significance. In this case, texts by Henry Miller are burned into the back of the wood. There is then a further process of paring down to what is essential. This kind of process implies a certain amount of subversion, obvious here in terms of landscape itself: although Black Shag does contain a landscape, the landscape is contained within the body of the bird:

“There is a tension set up, with your eye wanting to expand out and the expectancy of being surrounded by the landscape, rather than it being simplified and contained.”

Suriyavamsa’s work is perhaps best described as iconic, fitting for man who counts Andrei Rublev and Antoni Tapies amongst his key influences. He is interested in creating a sense of presence, a feeling of significance. He does not attempt a naturalistic portrayal of objects or of landscape. As he explains it, he tries “to make a ‘house’ for the spirit of a hill rather than represent it.” This is in keeping with much of what influences his art and can be seen clearly in

the work of Will Mclean, another contemporary Scottish artist, whose work Suriyavamsa’s most closely resembles.

“I’m interested in the story that grows around a core, as in the Arthurian legends… If your eyes are drawn to the object as though to a person then the work is successful.”

View the extended sketchbook or return to the gallery.

Text by Jinavamsa (adapted).