lifestyles of some of Scotland‘s Iairds over the past 400 years.
I OPEN EYE GALLERY 75 Cumberland Street, 557 1020. Mon—Fri 10am—6pm, Sat 10am—4pm.
All exhibitions until 7 Mar.
Modem Master at Printmaking The etchings of Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (1891—1979). Deborah Dewar: Recent Paintings
Susan Huttgens: Recent Ceramics
Ruth Hillier: Jewellery
I PORTFOLIO GALLERY 43 Candlemaker Row, 220 1911. Tue—Sat noon—5.30pm. Liz Rldeal: the Fairy Dueen Until 16 Mar. Rideal uses photobooth strips in her abstract. large scale artworks. In this series of commissioned works she explores the relationship between music and visual art by reconstructing. on a grid system, the score of Purcell‘s The Fairy Queen. Booking now for Spring workshops and photography courses.
I PORTRAIT GALLERY Queen Street , 556 8921. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 2—5pm. Francis Frith’s Egypt Until 14 Apr.
The Pyramids ol Dashoor Victorian photographs of Egypt. One of the great travel photographers of the last century. Frith was the second European to explore the Nile beyond the sixth Cataract. Determined to provide as faithful a representation as possible of what he saw for the folks back home, he braved near impossible conditions and endless rounds of crocodile chops, ‘fried and boiled and curried‘. I OUEEN'S HALL Clerk Street. Box Office 668 2019. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm. Cafe. Contemporary Paintings, Etching: and Silk Screen Prints Until 3 Mar. Including works by Brian Kelly. David Toner. Dorothy Black. Claudia Petretti and Lesley Main. Fun and Games? 4—30 Mar. Dianne Murphy played with toys all over Europe for this artistic study: 30 works on paper which together comprise an appealing exhibition and an important socio-politicai study ofchildhood. I RICHARD DEMARCO GALLERY Blackfriars Church, Blackfriars Street (off High Street). 5570707. Mon—Sat 10am—6pm. All exhibitions on until 2 Mar. The Many Faces ol Richard Demarco Works By the Sisters ol the Carrnellte Monastery, Duiddenham Edna Whyte: Drawings ol Luing Burns. Beuys and Beyond An exploration of the artist‘s role as social critic and visionary. focusing on the poet and artist as personified by Burns and German avant-garde artist Joseph Beuys. Two Hungarian Artists Works by Pal Gerber and Adam Balint. I ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS Invcrleith Row, 552 7171. Mon—Sat 9am—sunset; Sun Ham—sunset. Cafe. [D].
The Borneo-style longhouse Living in a Rainloresl A Borneo-style forest house, containing many south-cast Asian artclacts, has been reconstructed in the
ART & EXHIBITIONS
DUPLICITOUS SEDUCTIONS
K,
Detail lrom Leila Galloway‘s ‘Desire 1‘.
Inquiry lnto, 369 Gallery, Edinburgh. At the very moment that the 369 Gallery is under threat ol eviction lrom its premises by its own board ol management, they host one of the most interesting exhibitions I have seen there. inquiry Into contains work by live Edinburgh-based artists and is immaculately curated by a sixth, Rose Frain. It’s hard to produce in a small gallery area a coherent exhibition ol live diverse artists whose work demands its own time and space; but that is what Frain and the exhibitors have achieved.
It is one ol the most seductive yet rigorous exhibitions l have seen in a long while. Each ol the works set up tensions between desire and repulsion, either on a tactile level or on a more abstract, even ietishistic level. Leila Galloway’s piece, lor example, has a backdrop oi a sheet oi metal in which you can almost, but not quite, see yoursell reilected; a tress ol silvery ‘hair’ that lalls lrom about crotch level to the lloor turns out to be harsh wire which repulses the instinct to stroke it tenderly. Tony Cooper shows a piece which comprises two light-bulbs painted black, on each of which he has
; scratched a lace. Attached to the wall, 1 the scratches allow light through. The
image that we look at is this reilection/proiection, ephemeral, vulnerable, yet somehow seething with rage. Kiell Torriset has hung a large soft white cloth, like a particularly inviting bed-sheet, and placed on the centre at it a painting ol various objects. A chalice is repeated, obsessively; white silihouettes beneath each one are ol unidentiliable objects.
‘Relative Domestic Honesty’ is the title oi the work by Annie Cattrell. A large, rectangular work, it combines layers and layers oi clear plastic with dried heads at Honesty. The whole is kept together with hundreds ol pins, groups of which are entrapped with skeins of black, hairlike cotton. In the middle are two chrome handles ol the type that are sometimes lound on the sides at baths to help older people manoeuvre themselves in and out. Dllering us a handle on the work, the connotations ol washing clean, the Honesty plants, and the clear plastic which, when layered enough, becomes opaque, to produce a powerlul reilection on the mental hospital where Cattrell is presently artist in residence.
The most compelling work in the exhibition lor me is that by Wendy McMurdo. The three panels she shows mark a huge development and maturing lrom the work seen at the City Art Centre last year. Large black and white photo-images ol dolls' hands and heads mired with (lalse?) hair are in very shallow locus, meaning that parts can be clearly distinguished while other bits are hazy. They are then treated with wax, varnish and photo-tint, and literally stitched over or around with wire. Sheets of glass (almost) cover each panel, with a central, clear circle and a sand-blasted, semi-opaque ‘lrame’. McMurdo is playing with our visual perception and our perceptions 01 what lorms the ietishistic — she seduces us with the inorganic in the image, conluses us by not allowing us a clear view and repulses us with the materials she uses. it’s exciting, perverse stull. (Hilary Robinson)
Botanics' Exhibition Hall. Several workshops and activities accompany the exhibition. phone for details.
Vanishing Paradise Stunning photographs taken in the Venezuelan rainforest by award-winning photographers George Bernard and Stephen Dalton.
I ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Chambers Street. 225 7534. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 2—5pm.
Miss Crowlord Collects Until 28 Feb. In Feb 1990 Miss Crowford left to the museum a large collection of costume jewellery and china. glass, plastic and shell decorations. as well as other objects she collected when she retired from her job as a typist and took up travelling. Her legacy. and the meticulous record of her expenditure, now form an important part of the museum‘s collection of 20th century items.
Pots not at The Pans Until 1 Mar. Following a successful showing at the Scottish Mining Museum in Prestongrange. this exhibition of pottery from various locations along the Lothian coast transfers to the RMS for the winter.
I THE SCOTTISH GALLERY 94 (ieorge Street. 225 5955. Mon—Fri 10am—6pm; Sat
Illam—lpm.
Watersong: Paintings by Janet Pierce Until 27 Feb. Pierce paints mostly in watercolour on very thin Japanese rice paper — an interesting method which causes the paper to crease. adding an extra textural dimension. Iler paintings include close-up. abstract images offlowers, island landscapes and sea storms and she describes her work as ‘an intuitive response to nature'.
Lois Walpole: Textiles and Baskets Until 27 Feb. Walpole tises traditional techniques and combines brilliantly coloured cane with a variety ofother materials. including card and plastic.
Shades ol Scottish Classicism: Paintings by Hugh Buchanan 4 Mar-3 Apr. Buchanan pursues his study of classicism. turning his attention to 17th century Scotish castles and palaces: Fyvie. Thirlestane. Glamis, Falkland. liolyrood and some well-known Edinburgh buildings.
I SHORE GALLERY Bernard Street. Mon-Sal.
Crossings Until 9 Mar. Tapestries by Karin (.‘hipulina.
I SOLSTICE GALLERY 18a Dundas Street.
557 5227. Mon—Fri 11am—5pm; Sat j 10am—1pm. Jell McDonald: Recent Works Until 16 Mar. I STILLS GALLERY 105 High Street. 557 1140. Tue—Sat I lam—5.30pm. Jim Miller Poison Pen-A Story olWronglul Dismissal 25 Feb—30 Mar. A Kellogg‘s employee for more than 30 years. Marjorie Carlyle lost her job in 1974 for allegedly sending poison pen letters to a Kellogg's manager. In Jim Miller‘s exhibition. Carlyle protests her innocence in typed panels. and photographic panels are combined with period Kellogg‘s advertisements — promoting the company‘s caring image — to ironic effect. Ross Sinclair: Fanclub 25 Feb—30 Mar. Commissioned by Stills, Sinclair looks at the relationship between the ‘artist‘ and the ‘gallery‘. What does it mean for an artist to promote him or herself through an ‘exhibition'? Visitors to Stills will be bombarded by the artist‘s ego before they even enter the building— life-size photographs of Sinclair adorn the facade. stairwell and gallery space. I 369 GALLERY 233 Cowgate, 225 3013. Mon-Sat 10.30am—5.30pm. Inquiry Into Annie Cattrell, Tony Cooper. Leila Galloway, Wendy McMurdo and ch11 Torriset are the five artists chosen by Rose Frain for the Artist‘s Choice exhibition this year. All artists are,or have at some point been. 369ers. 0n the River: Paintings by Christie Cameron Until 2 Mar. ‘Poetic evocations ofthe Clyde valley’, abstract images ofthe landscape surrounding Cameron‘s home in Greenock. Alan G.D. Watson: Recent Work Until 30 Mar. Well known for his work on Scottish themes— St Kilda, the 19th century whaling industry and the building of an oil rig in Fife — in this exhibition Watson also looks at the construction of Errochty Dam. His work is boldly figurative and dominated by electric blues and pinks. I TORRANCE GALLERY 29b Dundas Street. 556 6366. Mon—Fri 11am—6pm; Sat 10.30am-4pm. Helen G S Forde: New Paintings and Drawings 25 Feb—9 Mar. I TRAVERSE THEATRE 112 Grassmarket. 226 2633. Tue—Sat 11am—10pm: Sun 6—10pm. The Show Must Go On: New Work by Andrew Smith Until 17 Mar. Smith turns his ‘wicked sense of humour‘ on the theatre— actors and audiences — and the experiences of every day thespian folk.
The Circus by Andrew Smith
OUTSIDE THE CITIES
STIRLING
I ALLAN PARK GALLERY 23 Allan Park . 078671411. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Wed 10am—1pm.
Sun, Sea and Sand Works on paper byJ‘ohn Mathison, Gail Harvey, Arran Ross and other prominent Scottish contemporary artists.
I SMITH ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM Dumbarton Road, 0786 71917. Tue—Fri noon-5pm; Sat 10.30am—5pm; Sun 2—5pm.
Surlace Tension Unti124 Feb. Time-based installations using photography, video, and slide projection, by five women artists fighting marginalisation.
0n the Shell? Until June. A new exhibition
drawn from the permanent collection.
60 The List 22 February — 7 March 1991