Bob didn't write a great deal about his work, and I'm sure he would have said it spoke for itself. However there are a few bits and pieces, generally centering on his philosophy, like this one from the 1970s :
My work is a whole, a creating, a disintegration, a newness, an oldness, a coming and going, organic living dying. I am often criticised for being careless and irresponsible about the preservation of my paintings, of course some survive, somehow----- and some of them are precious to me, but I cannot bring myself to think of them as eternal entities, if they survive well and good, if they don't, I will do more, I, like all things organic or inanimate, am finite. This is the law of the cosmos --- everything in time runs down, some things during their lifetime affect the evolution of things, hopefully some of my paintings or myself will do this in some small way.

COELACANTH

by Robert Finlayson (mid-1970s)

Something stirred
                  in a membrane
                  of the great one’s eye.
Fish, yet not fish
               a solitary one this
               no frantic navigator
                among shoals.
There was something of the immortal
                  in its lung.
Monstrous
                  its visage,
prophetic
                  its mutation,
guileless
                  its eye.
Coelacanth
               entered the Devonian world.
Among the swarms of oceana
               all was changing.
The transitional one had come.

Eternity
                  occurs in an instant
                  and in that convergence
                  created things
                   realise the oneness,
that instant is the internal sun,
              mind unspeakable,
Into that instant
                  Coelacanth lolled,
                  glimpsing the beginning
                  and the end.

Coelacanth withdrew
                  into itself
                  and forever
                  remained silent.


	Home\| Bob didn't write a great deal about his work, and I'm sure he would have said it spoke for itself. However there are a few bits and pieces, generally centering on his philosophy, like this one from the 1970s : My work is a whole, a creating, a disintegration, a newness, an oldness, a coming and going, organic living dying. I am often criticised for being careless and irresponsible about the preservation of my paintings, of course some survive, somehow----- and some of them are precious to me, but I cannot bring myself to think of them as eternal entities, if they survive well and good, if they don't, I will do more, I, like all things organic or inanimate, am finite. This is the law of the cosmos --- everything in time runs down, some things during their lifetime affect the evolution of things, hopefully some of my paintings or myself will do this in some small way. Mind unspeakable (1977); an annotation to the sketch for this reads "FROM THE IMMORTAL SLIME A FRAMEWORK FOR DEATH DIVERSITY AND CREATIVITY" Coelacanth (1977); there were at least two other Coelacanth paintings but I don't have photos of them. Website visitors' comments (to be added later) More in his own words..... (click to read) COELACANTH by Robert Finlayson (mid-1970s) Something stirred in a membrane of the great one’s eye. Fish, yet not fish a solitary one this no frantic navigator among shoals. There was something of the immortal in its lung. Monstrous its visage, prophetic its mutation, guileless its eye. Coelacanth entered the Devonian world. Among the swarms of oceana all was changing. The transitional one had come. Eternity occurs in an instant and in that convergence created things realise the oneness, that instant is the internal sun, mind unspeakable, Into that instant Coelacanth lolled, glimpsing the beginning and the end. Coelacanth withdrew into itself and forever remained silent. Reflections by Anne McLean (artist's last wife) (click to read) 1960s artworks \| 1970s artworks \| 1980s artworks \| 1990s artworks \| Biography \| Photos \| Contact \| Sitemap