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list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL VISUAL ART
N O S R E T A P Y B O T
BERNAT KLEIN: A LIFE IN COLOUR Dovecot throws a spotlight on textile designer’s vibrant, textured paintings ●●●●● TOBY PATERSON: THRESHOLDS Subtle, sculptural works created in response to Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres ●●●●●
The paintings of a sometime textile designer, who created fabrics for Marks and Spencer in the 1950s and went on to design for Dior, Pierre Cardin, Balenciaga and others in the 1960s, might be expected to bear an element of hobbyism away from his day job. Yet Bernat Klein’s oil works, particularly in later life, gathered as much praise as his striking, minimalist tweed designs. That this exhibition isn’t able to go further on the life and design work of a Serbian-born, Jerusalem- educated, Scottish Borders-based former World War II spy is one of the few minor criticisms of it. Klein’s paintings are a joy; they explode in cleverly
controlled bursts of colour, thickly layered on the surface in geometric globs of oil so thick that some are more like relief works than paintings. Few are presented on canvas or paper; instead, most use polyester and tweed as their base, adding to the wonderfully vivid sense of texture. There is also a small sample of wall-mounted woven textiles, patterned in a manner resembling abstract landscapes, which help create a strong festival programme at Dovecot alongside Kwang Young Chun’s striking pieces next door. (David Pollock) ■ Dovecot Gallery, 550 3660, until 26 Sep, free.
The slick new gallery space at Edinbu rgh Sculpture Workshop plays host to a series of similarly refined sculptures by Scottish artist Toby Paterson. Given the scope of the artist’s previous projects there is something underwhelming about these small and unassuming relief objects, which seem to belong in the early 20th century. But given time and understanding they begin to reveal hidden depths. Paterson created the sculptures, alongside
independent curator Judith Winter, in response to Scotland’s seven Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres; founded by and named after the late designer Maggie Keswick Jencks, who died of cancer in 1995. Given the delicacy of the brief and the fact that each sculpture will eventually be located into one of the Maggie’s Centres, it seems fitting that the aluminium sculptures should be as discreet as they are, with subtle, reflective surfaces only revealing panels of colour at certain angles.
Paterson’s sculptures are characteristically minimal, but one can’t help wondering if even some traces of the artist’s hand at work would have brought a greater level of humanity to them. (Rosie Lesso) ■ Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, 551 4490, until 29 Aug, free.
MARVIN GAYE CHETWYND AND KEMANG WA LEHULERE Edinburgh Art Festival commissions transform the interiors of the old Royal High School ●●●●●
Behind the doors of the crumbling old Royal High School building lie witty, experimental projects by two leading international artists.
On the left side is a nine-metre long freestanding blackboard, a fitting choice for an old school, onto which South African artist Kemang Wa Lehulere has created an intricate chalk drawing. Elements of local history sit beside figurative fragments, creating a fragile narrative that will be erased at the end of the festival. On the right, Scottish-born artist Marvin Gaye
Chetwynd has created a multi-layered installation in and around the school’s former debating chamber, which has been transformed into a haunting space filled with red spotlights and draped paper. Papier mache petals hang from the ceiling, while large sculptures resembling animals hide within. The strange lighting makes it an uncomfortable space to navigate and Chetwynd challenges visitors to enter and remain in her surreal kingdom long enough to conjure up their own interpretations. (Rosie Lesso) ■ Old Royal High School, until 30 Aug, free. Marvin Gaye Chetwynd on-site performances, 13 Aug, 6pm (part of Art Late); 22 Aug, 2pm; 29 Aug, 4pm.
CHARLES AVERY: THE PEOPLE AND THINGS OF ONOMATOPOEIA Stylish furnishings belonging to the inhabitants of Onomatopeia steal the show at Ingleby Gallery ●●●●●
It’s more than 10 years since Charles Avery annouced that his work, hence forward, would concentrate on The Islanders, an invented world with its own people, culture and topography, part fiction, part forum for philosophical inquiry. His biggest exhibition in Scotland since his show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2008 occupies two floors at Ingleby, and shows that the soil of the Island is as fertile as ever.
In this exhibition, he has set about getting under the skin of ordinary life in the main port, Onomatopoeia. It has always come alive in his drawings, and here are more: lanky youths shooting the breeze; young men catching eels; immigrant workers hanging around the quay.
And now, to his drawings and sculpture, he adds posters, T-shirts, wallpaper and furniture: an elegant three-sided table, a heart-shaped desk, a glass carafe in the shape of a water bird. If he wanted one, Avery could have a future in furniture design: they are beautiful objects that collectors will adore.
It is easy to admire the complexity and richness of The
Islanders project. What this show draws out is Avery’s gift with simplicity, such as the shimmering form of an eel made from blown glass There is also a metal tree, a specimen from Onomatopoeia’s
central park, placed in Waverley Station, which shares the same elegant, art nouveau-ish aesthetic as the furniture. As a body of work, it tells us two things: the more time one spends on the Island, the more interesting it becomes; and it won’t be long before a fashionable furniture store has an ‘Islanders’ range. (Susan Mansfield) ■ Ingleby Gallery, 556 4441, until 26 Sep, free.
13–20 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 101