ART & EXHIBITIONS LIST
NOT CRICKET
gs L . David Lurie: Bitter Harvest, Stills, Edinburgh. ‘Squalor, chronic poverty, a general lack oi alternative employment opportunities, dependency lor jobs and housing on local larmers and isolation irom any radicalism in working-class culture are the customary expectations oi the average larm worker’. This quote irom South Airlcan historian Bill Hasson introduces an exhibition oi David Lurles documentary photographs, taken during last year’s South Airican trult harvest.
it is a quietly poweriul exhibition, none oi the shock-horror violence that dominates journalistic photography irom war zones and sites oi conilict. Instead, Lurie builds up an account oi the daily liie at two oi the most disadvantaged groups oi South Airicans: the tied and migrant iarm labourers. The tied workers live in a
iashion that slaves would recognise: dependent on the term owners ior housing, schooling, land tor cultivation, load, and permission to remain when they are old. The migrant workers, usually irom the ‘independent’ homelands, stay in hated single-sex hostels which split iamilies, oiier no privacy, where alcohol is the only diversion.
Lurie charts this with a strangely dispassionate eye, attempting through distance to allow some dignity ior people whose lives have been routinely stripped oi autonomy. His wide-angle lens means that we are brought in close to grape-pickers or beer-drinkers, while at the same time intimacy is discouraged by the inclusion oi the widerview. Hardly any oi the subjects acknowledge Lurle's presence; even when they are looking his way, their eyes are averted. it is not clear whether this is because at his choice oi linal images, or it it is a result oi the position oi power inevitably occupied by a white South Airlcan man with a camera, no matter how sympathetic. Another impression is oi a people isolated irom each other; many oi the subjects turn away lrom each other, silent; again, it’s hard to know where this alienation comes irom. The iact that only one oi the subjects has been named by Lurie, and then only by his iirst name, doesn't imply any rapport between the subjects and the photographer. But despite this, there is a strength to the work which, in these times oi celebration, acts as a reminder oi just how iar South Airica has to go - and as a retort to bigots and racists who pontiiicate about sanctions and put theiriaith in cricket. (Hilary Robinson)
I COLLECTIVE GALLERY 166 High Street, 220126().Tue—Sat 12.30-5.3()pm.
John Collins: Shlll 93 Until 3 Mar. Mixed media work on the themes of metamorphosis and transmutation from a Canadian artist exhibiting here for the first time.
Peteriiimmer10-31 Mar.
I EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART Lauriston Place, 229 9311. Mon—Sat IOam—Spm. Todd Garner Until 4 Mar. A Californian artist over here for a year presents some of his ceramic work in the Andrew Grant Gallery.
Clare Chevrier 26 Feb—8 Mar. For approximately ten days the artist will be working on an installation in the Sculpture Court.
HANOVER FINE-ARTS
'Borders and Beyond ' AVRIL JACQUES
paintings and drawings
'For the love of two lands’ MARILY MACVICAR
watercolours and pastels
24th Feb - 13th Mar 1990 Mon-Fri 103m-6pm ;Sat mam-4pm 22A DUNDAS STREET EDINBURGH EH3 61h”
TELEPHONE 031-556 2181
60 The List 23 February — 8 March 1990
I EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS WORKSHOP GALLERY 23 Union Street. 557 2479. Mon-Sat mam—5.30pm.
Prints lrom the Four Scottish Art Schools Until 24 Feb. The Workshop‘s third exhibition by student printers out to make their mark in this somewhat dark and melancholic show.
In the meantime there will be a display of prints from the workshop until the next exhibition:
Marlyn Evans 17 Mar—14 Apr. A retrospective of his work from 1930—1960. Also there will be a weekend workshop for beginners in lithography. etching or screenprinting on 17 & 18 Mar. contact Paul at the gallery for details.
I FILMHOUSE Lothian Road. 228 2688.
Mon-Sat noon-11pm; Sun 6.30—11pm. Paul Strand: Hebridean Photographs Untii 4 Mar. One of the better known namesin photography. Strand visited the Hebrides for three months in 1954 and produced this set of holiday snaps. A Portrait OI Nicaragua 4—30 Mar. Mike Goldwater‘s photographs of the troubled Central American country are being displayed to tie in with Central American Week. I FINE ART SOCIETY 137 George Street. 220 6370. Mon—Fri 9.3(Iam—5.3(lpm. Sat l()am—lpm. Contemporary Artists Until 24 Feb. A repeat showing of artists who have exhibited with the Society in recent years. Sir James Lawton Wingate1846—1924 1-27 Mar. Large-scale landscapes in oils. I FLYING COLOURS GALLERY 35 William Street. 225 6776. Tue—Fri 11am—6pm. Sat 10am—1pm. Surrealist Paintings Until 2 Mar. Mike Forbes has his first solo exhibition outside Inverness. Peter Coker 8 Mar—4 Apr. Oils and drawings by this distinguished British artist. I THE FRENCH INSTITUTE 13 Randolph Crescent. 225 5366. Le Cirque by Ferdinand Leger Until 10 Mar. Thirty-seven lithographs accompanied by some of the original text from Legcr‘s book which chronicled his fascination with the big top. The lithographs show all the verve and panache of his later work. I THE FRUITMARKET GALLERY Market Street. 225 2383. Mon—Sat “lam—5.30pm Sun 1-5.3()pm. The gallery will be closed until April for refurbishment. I GALERIE MIRAGES Raeburn Place. 315 2603. Tue—Sat 1i).3()am—4.3()pm. Sun 2—4.3(lpm. closed Mondays. Senneh Kilims Until 3 Mar. Hakshe Kantos 5—17 Mar. Traditional embroidery from Bengal in the form of quilts. wallhangings and shawls. I GALLERY OF MODERN ART Belford Road. 556 8921. Mon—Sat lllam—Spm; Sun 2—5pm. [D] Cafe. The gallery‘s justly renowned cafe isopen Mon—Sat lll.3llam—4.3llpm; Sun 2.30—4.2lipm. (‘ream teas will be served from 3—4.15pm. Gwen Hardie Until 18 Mar. An exhibition of work by this talented young artist who trained in both Glasgow and Berlin that traces her gradual move to an abstract style. I GRAEME MURRAY GALLERY 15 Scotland Street. 556 6020. Tue—Fri 1(1am—5pm. Sat lilam—lpm. After returning from sunny Spain the gallery staff are planning an exhibition by Tracy Mackenna 3—31 Mar. New work. I HANOVER FINE ART 22a Dundas Street. 5562181. Mon—Fri 1(1am—5.3()pm;Sat 1(lam—4pm. Avril Jaques: Borders and Beyond 24 Feb—13 Mar. Landscapes from the Borders area. Marin Macvicar: For the Love oi Two Lands
67 George Street Edinburgh EH2 210 031.226 4151
SPRING
UNTIL FRIDAY 9 MARCH AT 67 GEORGE STREET
20% Off all marked prices on prints, watercolours and oils and items not generally displayed. Prices £30 —£300
Malcolm 7 S _ Gallery
IVMBS
24 Feb—l3 Mar. Watercolours and drawings of Corfu and Scotland from an artist based in East Lothian.
I HILLSIDE GALLERY Hillside Street. 556 6440. Tue—Sat l().30am—6pm.
To Do Willi Love Until 24 Feb. Small~scale illustrations and collages with an amorous theme from Brigid Collins and Gaynor Shephard.
Ollth Page 27 Feb—17 Mar. The exhibition will feature unusual ways of
Dying Forests: a Crisis in Consciousness. Exhibition Hall, Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
The sub-title oi this exhibition implies that its artist and curator want us to react in an active way to what is on show, and (using it as a starting point) redevelop our consciouness oi lorests. Dr Jochen Bockemiihl, a Swiss scientist, artist and teacher, has produced these drawings as part oi his exploration oi trees and iorest landscape; the texts he has supplied with each image explain what he iound oi interest and what he was trying to understand through the acts at
observation and drawing. Sequences oi images show the same landscape at diiterent times at the year, or what happens to an oak tree at ditierent ages and in diiierent environments. We are encouraged to think oi trees as living organisms, rather than to be outraged or depressed by iorest destruction; the destruction, Bockemiihl would argue, is only possible because oi our non-awareness oi the lite oi iorests integrating with all other life. He says ‘we are dealing with a problem which has its roots in our own conscious relationship to nature,’
The overall message is oi a holistic approach to the natural sciences. The viewer is encouraged to begin to take personal responsibility, and, like Bockemiihl, to observe nature through drawing it. This is made to seem possible by the technique at the drawings, which is (with one exception) disarmineg simple. Bockemiihl has drwan on something that looks like children’s iuzzy-ielt— overtones oi Boots-type velvet pictures and nursery—school play—with a lew unmixed colours; nothing about them reminds the viewer of ‘iine art’ exclusivity. The exception is a more sell-consciously ‘beautiiul’ water-colour on paper at the constituent parts at a peony iiower laid out in a spiral. Bockemiihl has used aesthetics knowingly to provoke reactions to the two techniques oi image-making. (Hilary Robinson)
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