William OrdRock Forms - Grey SkyDate unknown

The example offered here is highly typical of Ord’s work: monolithic rocky entities in a landscape that feels simultaneously truthful and uncanny. Rendered with a skilled variety of brushwork and lent solidity through an extraordinary array of textures, the result is a work with a powerful, almost primal sense of presence.

William or “Bill” Ord, was one of a group of four artists based in and around Aberdeen. Going under the acronym ‘ABBO’ (after their surname initial), Eric Auld, Bill Baxter, Donald Buyers and Bill Ord all studied at Gray’s School of Art, under the tutelage of Alberto Morrocco. Collectively, they helped raise the profile of art in the Granite City, exhibiting their work around Britain and as far afield as Belgium.

Aside from several years in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Ord resided in Aberdeenshire his whole life. Subsequently, it is with the wild North Sea coastline that his work is most associated, much of his art being inspired by the view from his home studio in Muchalls, between Aberdeen and Stonehaven.