Keeping the Festival in the picture
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CHRIS CUNNINGHAM Edinburgh College of Art, until 26 Aug.
It’s difficult to think of many commercial video makers who enjoy the level of artistic appreciation that Chris Cunningham receives. Usually by virtue of their association with filthy lucre and noise mongers, they are discounted from serious critical attention within the hallowed halls of museum and gallery culture. But deservedly, Cunningham has crossed the tracks. Or perhaps more importantly the tracks no longer seem to exist as they once did.
His video for Aphex Twin Come to Daddy, literally and critically rocked the art world in 1997 (it was shown in Family Credit at the Collective Gallery in 1998). Displaying 3 level of intensity all too lacking in most art videos, it was hailed as a visionary snapshot of what
could be done, if only artists dumped the stationary camera and obsession with slow mo. Since Come to Daddy he has directed a series of diverse and
memorable videos.
The Window/icker video, again for Aphex Twin (1999) was a vitriolic parody of rap videos, in which the heads of sexy ladies in small bikinis were replaced by grotesque masks of Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James’ contorted visage. Simultaneously disturbing and hilarious, its very presence on mainstream media was a
subversive joy.
A very busy man, he’s also produced pieces for musicians such as Squarepusher and icons such as Madonna. He also had the dubious pleasure of working on Stanley Kubrick’s ill fated, never-ending sci-fi film AI. Upcoming projects include being signed up to direct the motion picture adaptation of William Gibson’s
Neuromancer.
Last year, Cunningham descended into the art world proper. His video Flex (2000) was one of the standout pieces at the Royal Academy’s APOCALYPSE
PHOTOGRAPHY INSTALLATION KATE GRAY: THE GHOST
OF A FLEA Collective Gallery, 4 Aug-9 Sep.
Two anonymous figures populate Kate Gray's illus0ry composition. Clothed in white vests and disposable underwear. they appear to be walking towards a strange. box-shaped architectural structure in the background. Like a still from a bizarre sci-fl film. you can almost sense that the aliens have landed.
This constructed. imaginary landscape is central to Gray's work. Places are real. so too are the people. but Gray invents visionary images by manipulation, replacing the familiar with the unfamiliar. For her first major solo show at the Collective Gallery. the Edinburgh-based artist will be creating a maze within the gallery space. The walls of the labyrinth have been stencilled with a‘tangled arrangement of paths. and set within that. are Gray's large-scale digital lightb0x images.
‘l'm interested in the difference between documentary and illusory.' says Gray. ‘I take things that are everyday and then twist it, rather than
Monkey Drummer by Chris Cunningham
exhibition. An exploration of anatomy and sexuality, it featured male and female bodies caught up in a primitive choreography. Perhaps more markedly
serene, it still contained his trademark taste for
perverse.
disruption, most obviously in its use of Aphex Twin’s commissioned music. At Edinburgh College of Art Cunningham will be showing Flex alongside a new piece, Monkey Drummer, recently premiered at the 49th Venice Biennale. Featuring an automaton of multiple limbs with the head of a monkey, it too sounds suitably
Cunningham’s future trajectory will be worth watching. In the art world, poverty of means is often ascribed a kind of honest dignity, and those artists who use commercial techniques are frequently treated with critical distrust (Jeff Koons is a case in point). Art is after all a business which likes to suppress talk of
business. Personally, I think Cunningham possesses
the requisite attributes to shake up the rather luddite, pedestrian tendencies of the art community. Who’s the daddy now? (John Beagles)
Mission: Kate Gray’s illusory constructed landscape
trying to find a landscape that is extraordinary to begin with.‘
Photographing places in the east of Scotland including Torness nuclear power station and the ash pits at Cockenzie. she makes actual locations take on a more fantastical quality. The figures. often models. are photographed in Situ or put together digitally. The poses are taken from both painting and documentary-style images.
'I'm trying to hold the Viewer in a
limbo so that when you're looking at the image. you know it's real yet it looks too changed but you can't qwte put your finger on it.‘ says Gray. 'I want to lead people up blind alleys and the maze structure in the space Will allow this. There will be a centre to the maze but when you arrive at the centre. there‘s nothing there. I want peOple to feel that they're between places and never actually arrive.’
Prepare yourself for disorientating viewing. (Helen Monaghan)
Q SEBASTle SALGADO
Sebaatlao Salgado: Migrations See review.
Sebastiao Sa/gado: Migrations. City Art Centre, 529 3993, until 2 Sep. Mon-Sat loam—6pm; Sun noon-5pm. £4 (£2.50) for all four exhibitions; family ticket 89; season ticket £7.
Jeff Koons: Easyfun - Ethereal
The world premiere of large-scale paintings by the controversial American artist Jeff Koons - a playful collage of food. fashion and fun culled from the media and personal photographs.
Jeff Koons: Easyfun - Ethereal, Fruitmarket Gallery, 225 2383, until 15 Sep. daily 10am- 7pm, £33 (£1.50); under 53 free. Rembrandt’s Women
Revealing the women in Rembrandt's life and his unique depiction of the female form. a major exhibition of paintings. intimate sketches and etchings drawn from collections around the world.
Rembrandt '3 Women, National Gallery Of Scotland, 624 6200, until 2 Sep. Mon—Sat 10am—6pm; Sun Ham-6pm, £6 (£3. 50).
Sean Scully
A Scottish debut for internationally renowned Dublin-born artist Sean Scully featuring a small group of paintings and recent works on paper
Sean Scully, Ing/eby Gallery, 556 4447, until 15 Sep. Mon—Sat 10am-5pm; Sun by appointment, free.
Kate Gray: The Ghost Of A Flea
See preview.
Kate Gray: The Ghost Of A Flea, Collective Gallery, 220 1260, 4 Aug-9 Sep. Tue—Sat 10. 30am-5pm; Sun 1-5pm. Free.
Roland Penrose and Lee Miller Shedding light on one the most fascinating artistic partnerships of the 20th century. the Penrose and Miller exhibition is a must-see.
The Surrealist And The Photographer: Roland Penrose and Lee Miller, Dean Gallery, 624 6200. until Sun 9 Sep. Mon—Sat 10am—6pm; Sun 11am—6pm, £4 (£2.50).
Chris Cunningham
See preview.
Chris Cunningham, Edinburgh College of Art, 221 6000, until 26 Aug, daily 10am-5pm, free.
2—9 Aug 2001 THE LIST as