ART REVIEW
Fly away: liz Bldeal's sell-portrait
THE RAINBOW PORTRAITS
Insrirur l’rrtlicuis‘ (I'lz't'iixsi'. /L(/lIl/’lll'L’/i unli/ Wed 8 Mu}; The Freneh-Iiritish artist. l.i/. Riileal. tlesei'ilies the photo hiiiiih as ‘t'iiie :iit‘s equivalent to the tiiilei‘. anti sinee NSF she has used this iiiilikelg. piece .it‘ hiin street machinery IU iiiake wtirks t‘l. art. Over the past ten years she has ileveltipeil the passptii'i plititiigraph tii ereate large-seale theineil eiillages
T/lt" RIIIII/Htit' l’ririiuili. etiintiiis‘sitinetl h)’ the Institiit l’i'aiieais il'lzees‘se. ate a series tit t‘tiui'ieen liiseniits‘li etiltitireti sell—punitiits til the artist tzilseii in ‘l
phtitti htitith and liliiv. n—up It! ititiie than
litesi/e. liispii'etl Iii. passpiiit phiittigraphs whieli age l‘tiltil) st inns: and we haie all had the plitiiii linail: tlis‘astet‘r Ritleal et'eatetl 'l'lii Ruin/um I’rri'lriii/s as ‘a denial til the late and iii the sell-punitiit It] the normal sens‘e.‘ She sets iitit l0 subvert the [)lll'ptlst’ til the plltllt) litiiith as an ’itleiitit} machine. and t‘iirees it to do what ll isn't nieant iii: iii aet as a L‘lt‘illth' antl expiessite lilt‘tlllllll.
In the ser\ iee (it this ideal. Riileal tlelihet‘atel} awiils .in_\ kinil tit l'riintal viewpoint. liisteail slie thrtiws hersell artiuiiil the Litllllllle’tl spaee til the liiitiili so that v. e eateh lust a glittitist‘ tit her law. hair and hatitls iii \ itileiii aliaiitliin. As a l‘urthei' I'L‘ICL‘IIOII DI the institutional spaee til the pheiti l‘mtrth. Ritleal rejects the slantlaril gre} ti: hlu: curtain and uses hi'ighily eiiltiui‘eil pure littlian silks. \\ hieh reiighlj.‘ eiii'iesptintl to the eiiltiurs (it the rainliiiw the resulting phtitiigraphs are wild. nianie and highl) sensual with twerttines til hysteria. perhaps lirtitighi till lw a ICCII”?! (it t‘tlllllllCllls‘lll iii a i‘esti'ietetl
i spaee Hung in a rim and untraineil the ptiitraits again suggest a strip tit' passpiirt phtittieiaplis. and their eiiliitir (llltl enei‘g} is ltlll‘il’L‘ssl‘.‘t‘. (Juliet
' Knight)
j AWASH IN COLOUR ; National Gallery. Edinburgh until Sun 14 July. The American artist Winslow Homer knew his own worth. On one of his I watercolours he wrote: ‘This will do
l the business'. It does. One of the USA’s '
i tinest watercolourists ot the 19th century, there’s nothing pallid about his work. He had a dett hand and wasn’t atraid to pile on the colour. In
another work. The Sponge Diver, a
i lean-backed man is half submerged in
a dark turquoise sea. It has a luscious,
3 near sensual brilliance.
Winslow, who died in 1910, is one at f a group at American artists whose g watercolours are displayed in Awash In Colour at the National Gallery. f Selected from Boston’s Museum at Fine Arts vast collection, it’s the first showing in Europe at over 50 ; watercolours from the late 19th and
early 20th century. Watercolour is a medium that is
’ THE LORD PROVOST’S
PRIZE
(it/Hurt (if .l/rtt/el‘ll :ll'l. (i/rlxgiiit' [th't/ Sir/i /‘1 .ilrii'.
'I'he l.t)l'(l l’rtwnst’s I’i'i/e is Seiitlaiitls haiitlstiiiies‘t art award. The winner
reeeives' the sum (it “2.000. an aintitint in Britain s'eetiiitl tinly it) the
otten derided as tame these days. Fine 1
for painting flower-tilled garden
borders. but that’s about it. But
- watercolour tar Irom lacks clout, it’s
just out at fashion. [in show are some
tairly trothy works trom John Singer
: Sargent. But that was his torte, a
1 visual, almost tactile sumptuousness,
and here are his standard but grand
decorative women at ease in
7 decorative settings. Yet his paintings
' ot marble quarries at Carrara show a ditterent Sargent.
The watercolours by Edward Hopper,
I the great painter at America’s desolate urban interior, have the
same stark monumentality as his
paintings. His landscape, a subject rarely tackled by Hopper, has a glorious vivid sharpness painted in almost virulent greens. John Mario’s watercolour of near abstraction,
'l‘urner l’ri/e‘s' {30.000 It has lieeii an annual L‘\'L‘lil sinee WW and previous winners liax'e inelutletl l)a\‘iil Maeh.
.Ienn} Saville atitl Alistin \\att. hut it's
a mute what unusual prize. \Vllt‘l't‘n‘
ether art awartls tlIIL'lI eite an attists
; iiinmatitin iir tllII\IIllItllIl‘:.' e'illlll'llillllt‘ll
iii an as the driving time I'L‘llllltl \t’lCe'lltlll. the l,tii'tl l’t'm t)\l..\ l’i'i/e
invitesititlees‘ tii seleet artists lllt‘_\
sitiipl) atliiiire.
This \‘e';ii"s three iiivlees. liilletl :is e‘e‘lelll‘lllers. were litii;itlt':tslel’ Kil‘sl} Wark. writer l.i/ liieliheatl .inil Keeper til. the Modern ('tilleetitiii at I.tiiitltiti's l‘ale. Riehartl Merphet liaeli eliiiiise two artists who are then iiii‘itetl tii present a work til their eliiiiee t‘iir
: eiiinpetititin. 'l‘he pulilie alsti gets a ‘ elianee tii have a sa}. (ix er the past
' Clouds And Mountains At Kufstein, is a
lyrical wash of pale blues and from Georgia O’Keette, there is a small
watercolour trom 1916: lied and Black ‘
is a fluid play of colour — bot reds and
jet blacks - it shows O’Keette’s superb t guns. All present paintings (ll \ai'} in}:
confidence of colour and technique. (Susanna Beaumont)
- .-\laii (itiiik‘s ('t'hn/riii tI/li/ ( Miami is;
weeks 8000 \‘isittirs tn the (ialleri til .\Iii<lei'ti :\rt have ‘. lC\\Cll the wtirks and east at \UIL'. Htiwe\ei'. the pulilie \tites only etiiinl as a etilleeme tine \tite in the final judging I'Ulllltl.
'I‘llls _\L‘:tt"s selL‘eIL‘tl tll’llsls \t'ehie l-‘tiri'est. :\|an (itilll’s'. Sheila .\laeiiiillaii. .Iiin l’attisiiii. Dunean Shanks and lean \'ilaiiieiiiir - are lllll‘tll‘llllltlle‘l} nii gin-at
ilegrees tit‘ \ei‘\ e. hut lIlIlt)\(lIl\ e tir w iltll} e\eitin}_‘ they are iitii. the
winning wiirk. h} .All’tll'lt'l‘tll'li l)uiie;in
Shank is I’ll/HI. .-\ l‘renetie tlispla} til
eiiliitii'. it‘s a i‘ieh merltiatl til. paiiitetl
stretches (it’tiratige. )L‘Iltl“. green and lime that twist. turn and surge aei‘iiss the eaiiias. eiillitling antl iieeasninallj
rising; tip in itnpastiieil patehes. It has
restinanee litit no real hrilliaiiee. I'l'tllll .~\reltie litiri'est there's a still lile—euiir intertiir seeiie aiitl lil‘tilll Sheila .\Iaeinillan a painting iii iiehres and pink ileseriliiiig a \ illage in l’i‘tii'enee.
psyeheilelie aria} tit giant spltiilges til eiiltiur.
The (ialler) iil .\ltitlerii .-\rt \lll'L‘l} ean‘t teel it has etiurtetl ititi iniieh
; eiiiitrtiiei's} sinee its tipellilt}: in Mareh'.’ lts atteiiilanee t‘igztii‘es stainl at m'ei' lllllfltil) and. as the Lord l’i‘iixiist.
l’at l.all_\’. .s'aiiljtikingl} at the award
American landscape: Samuel Colman’s The Green River at Wyoming L‘Cl'ClliUll)’. ii is perhaps thanks in “mi.;.
eiioi scene: Archie Forrest's Braque Poster
Mall; thi~ ieai I line up ttir link I tirl l'i'wtist's l’ri ‘e has tiarely the iiiiisele lit t aiise a I’lillls lt etiiiltl he so much ltli‘l'i'. etiiiiniaiiilin; nut itist liieal hut alsti llillltit‘ial atteniitiii. tSiisanna
Iteauiniinti
INDEX
Glasgow School of Art until Fri 10 May. Dig this brothers and sisters. In our cave-dwelling past, Art was only about the painting and the audience — relatively straightforward. yes? But those cool days are over. Civilisation has since given birth to magazines and the result is a tar more complicated relationship.
Art Forum, Art Scribe. Freize and many other titles constitute a canon at work which has helped to establish the great and the good, steering taste, retlecting movements and padding out thin and anaemic ideas by the barrowload. Watch out all ot you, they have been wrestling tor our minds since the 605.
Index — Art Magazines (1960-1996) at Glasgow School of Art, recognises the importance ot publishing in the art world, and devotes space to a selection of articles, features, inserts, reviews and advertisements from magazines distributed in Britain during this period.
Being a habitual browser, my tirst
' reaction to seeing so many glossies is
usually — where’s the coffee? But tast overcoming this urge, I realised the truth at one participating quote. indeed ‘magazines have determined the History ot Art’ because right in front of me the New York Happenings ot the early 60$, dot paintings and the rest, were all laid out for second, third and fourth time consumption.
Two things are interesting about the whole endeavour. Cutting edge discourse on cutting edge development in contemporary art, has been reduced to museum exhibits — a vaguely protound post-modern,
deconstruction thing. Secondly, pages
at magazine and text look incredibly bland mounted on the wall. All probably swarming with misquotes and misunderstandings, thank the Lord there was no sign of The Listamong them.
Eventually getting to the point, though Index is a dry piece at usetul education it you care to swallow. Otherwise simply go on a bright day and hang out. (Paul Welsh)
72 The List 3—l(i May l‘)‘)(i