Andrew Restall (b. 1931) is known for his postage stamp designs and more latterly mixed media landscapes.
Restall's work straddles painting, printmaking and collage. Known for his abstract imagery that looks to the landscape of Lowland Scotland and the footprint of humankind upon it, this exhibition of selected works shows the breadth of Restall's practice to reposition him as one of the most incisive Scottish artists of his generation.
Andrew Restall was born in Oxfordshire in 1931, the son of a professional typographer. He graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1954, where he later established the new School of Visual Communications. In 1965 he was seconded to the Royal College of Art as Research Fellow in Stamp Design and alongside teaching, Restall worked from 1964 for the Post Office designing stamps and related philatelic material. He designed nine sets or part sets between 1964 and 1983. This took him into a different world, building on an existing interest in typography and printing processes. Two of his most notable contributions to stamp design were the Commonwealth Games issue of 1970 and the Sailing Stamps of 1975. In 1975 he became Head of Visual Communication at University of Brighton. Since retiring as Head of the School of Visual Communication at Edinburgh College of Art, he has concentrated on painting and printmaking techniques including collagraphy; observing the changing landscapes around him in the Scottish Borders where he lives.
In most recent years, due to reduced mobility, as well as the pandemic, he has been enjoying the challenge of exploring and developing visual ideas that are independent of specific locations, but still landscape based, and free from verbal or descriptive references.
