ART PREVIEW
:- Frame by
frame
Witty, polemic, rude or racy, the art of the cartoon is explored in an exhibition at the Collins Gallery. Caroline Ednie sat back and enjoyed.
Animation Plus sets out to challenge the popularly held misconception that animation. particularly in the wake of recent phenomenal successes like Aladdin equals Walt Disney. Using examples of film. key eels. models. storyboards and original drawings, the exhibition illustrates how rich the medium of animation can be.
In terms of subject. style. technique and application, animation must be one of the most privileged — and probably rewarding — art forms in that it knows no real boundaries. The only limitations are in the animator’s imagination.
The development of the medium from the 1940‘s onwards is explored and focuses on early British animators like Halas and Batchelor. pioneers in the field and probably best known for their full length animation of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Their skills ] were also enlisted for the production of i information films to help the British war effort. Animation has, indeed, often lent itself as a mode of expression far out- reaching that of just visual entertainment. The Czech film maker Jan Svankmajer exploited the possibilities of implicitness in animation; many of his films forming
stunningly sinister political allegories
on the repressive
' Czechoslovakian Communist regime. Stills from Svankmajer's Food and the sublime Alice are testament to a
considerable artist. Another pertinent, if considerably more amusing, indictment of human
f error is the Turd Family, stars of a ; twenty—second MTV film which ' followed them on holiday, and
culminated in them floating contentedly in the sea. Three Peach’s kitsch Baroque animation film for the Terence Higgins Trust. a wonderfully witty
‘ parable on the joys of latex in the age
of AIDS, is further tribute to the
versatility and potency of the medium.
Elsewhere in the exhibition are landmarks of animation from George Dunning’s designs for Yellow Submarine to Bob Godfrey's Basil and
. Bertha. Godfrey’s greatest comic
llo Problem, a iilm by Craig Welsh
creation, Custard. is lamentany absent from proceedings. Nick Park’s Creature Comforts. however. are reminders of unadulterated animation pleasure.
Finally and significantly the exhibition showcases many young and recently graduated animators. many of whom are attracting a great deal of healthy interest. On the strength of work by Joanna Quinn and John Colin’s recent First Reels offerings, this seems hardly surprising.
Animation Plus is an entertaining and fairly comprehensive insight into the myriad possibilities and achievements of animation as an art form. Despite the disconcerting omission of Mary. Mungo and Midge it is still essential viewing.
Animation Plus is at the Collins Galleryfront Sat 19 Feb—[9 Mar.
u— Fifteen minutes
Andy Warhol’s immortal ‘Fiiteen minutes oi lane” quote may well be carved into our collective conscious, but no matter which guru is espousing their view, the notion oi lame clearly has an indeterminate shell-lite as a cultural obsession. It is this ilxation that two recent graduates iron Glasgow School oi Art, Jacki Cunninghu and Fiona Wright, have tdren to task In their constructive photographic ruminations on ‘the individual’s public identity and private seli'.
Wright has chosen to pursue the amblgious relationship between individuality and ubiquity by employing the human skin as a metaphor. With her blown-up rather abstract close-ups oi pores and linen hair disproportionater magnified, the effect is that oi looking at an ariel photograph oi peck-marked ground. This renders something inherently talliar as skin as quite
impersonal. Again in highlighting the
tattoeasamarkonthebodysheis
not only iorcing a private and hidden image into the public domain but presenting the tattoo as ‘a symbol to make oneseli imnous’.
In Cunningham’s humorous examination oi tame there is the added cultural complication oi identity. In her lurid photocopied portraits oi ordinary people, their claim to tame lies in their celebrity namesake. Instead oi the glossy airbrushed Hollywood superstar we are primedtoseeonreadingthenameliz Taylor, we are instead greeted with a photo-booth shot oi a smiling woman bearing a vague resemblance to the
Jimmy Boyle and lit Taylor by Jacki Cmninflram
glitz goddess. Our preconceptions and ensuing contusion is stretched iurther with Bobby Brown in glasses and party hat askew and an innocuous, dapper- iooking pensioner who goes by the name oi Jimmy Boyle. The concept oi ‘iame in death’ is perpetuated with a photographic roll-call oi ordinary/celebrity names carved into local tombstones.
Essentially this is a witty and promising eiiort to peel back the multi-layered construct that society has deiined as tame. (Ann Donald)
Fame is at lntermedla in Virginia Street until 12 February.
ART
Exhibitions are listed by city, then alphabetically by venue. Shows will be listed, provided that details reach our oiilces at least ten days beiore publication. Art and Exhibition listings compiled by Beatrice Colin.
I ART EXPOSURE GALLERY 38 Bath Street. 33| 26l7. Mon—Sat 10.30am-6pm. Showcase Until Fri 18 Feb. Brand new gallery artists and first time exhibitors including Julie Parker and Steven Walker. I ART GALLERY G MUSEUM, KELVINGROVE 357 3929. Mon—Sat l0am-5pm; Sun Ham—5pm. Cafe. [D]. Voluntary guides are available free of charge to conduct parties or individuals round the main galleries. Ask at the enquiry desk.
Word Pictures: Illustrators in Scotland Until 4 Apr. An exhibition of work by the illustrators in Scotland group which was formed in l99l.
Modern Art From the Collection New permanent display. David Hockney, Bridget Riley. Alan Davie. Jasper Johns. Bruce McLean and Eduardo Paolozzi are featured in an exhibition of Pop Art and work inspired by the heady 60s.
I ROGER OILLCLIFFE FINE ART 134 Blythswood Square. 332 4027. Mon-Fri 9.30am—5.30pm; Sat 10am-1pm. Valentine Until Sat 19 Feb. A selection of work on a romantic theme by gallery artists.
I BURRELL COLLECTION Pollokshaws Road. 649 7l51. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 11am—5pm. Cafe. [D].
The collection of Edwardian tycoon William Burrell. including furniture, paintings. ceramics and glass, housed in an elegant purpose-built gallery. Recorded descriptions and thermoforms available for the benefit of visually impaired visitors.
Degas in Bronze Until 13 Mar. Direct from Brazil, one set of the complete bronze sculptures by Degas depicting women, dancers and horses. Degas showed only one of his sculptures in his life-time. and most of these works were used as explorative studies for his paintings and pastels. They show. however. his incredible understanding of movement and the human form.
I BORNSIOE GALLERY l90 Dukes Road. 6l3 3663. Mon. Wed—Sat 10am-5pm. Mixed SiIOW Until 28 Feb. Work by eight artists including Lynn Hunter and Tracy McAllister.
I CCA 346—354 Sauchiehall Street. 332 752i. Tue—Sat Ham—5.30pm. Cafe. [D]. Bad Girls Until 12 Mar. Bad, mad orjust ‘ naughty. six artists from the USA and Britain explore sexual identity, 90s style. with witty, perverse. erotic or in-your-face work. Also a video programme in the studio. including work from nineteen- year-old genius Sadie Benning. in her bedroom with 21 Fisher Price Video camera. plus work by Monika Trent and a film of a Riot Grrl convention.
I CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL ARTS 218 Albion Street, 552 2822. Mon—Fri 10am—5pm.
As Time Goes By Until Fri 11 Feb. Paintings by Margaret Murphy, an artist who has worked with Project Ability since 1989. plus a selection of objects selected by the artist from Glasgow museums.
I COLLINS GALLERY University of Strathclyde. 22 Richmond Street. 552 4400 ext 2682. Mon—Fri 10am-5pm; Sat noon—4 m. [D].
Animat on Plus Sat 19 Feb—l9 Mar. An exhibition of original, contemporary artworks and installations by international and Scottish animators.
CO The List 1 1—24 February l994