REVIEW ART
EMBE— FILM CULTURE
Tramway, Glasgow until Sat 20 act. Cinema celebrates its centenary, but you ain’t seen nothing yet. llot when artists like Mark lewis and Pierre Bismuth set their cameras rolllng. Vancouver-based lewis playiully teases Hollywood traditions in two short iilms. In The Impossible Films, he has devised lavish opening sequences to illm projects that were discussed decades ago but were never made. Freud couldn’t be persuaded to adapt The Story 0! Psychoanalysis, but the version lewis has shot depicts various people who haunt a park over 24 hours - children playing, dogs, vagrants, lovers, prostitutes. The title sequence ends when the closing credits roll. We’re given just a taster but leit without a story.
lewis also tackles nas Kapiial, Eisenstein unrealised project, with the camera swooplng across a cityscape punctuated with human intrigue, beiore the credits again roll. It’s another tantalising pastiche. In Lewis’s second iilm, A Sense 0! The End, he plays with archetypal closing scenes - all shot in Glasgow - irom ditterent illm genres. Collaging the scenes, you get the sense that you’ve walked in at the end oi a lilm or channel hopped on to a iinal dramatic
Filmed llie: Plerre Blsmuth’s Blind Fllm In
moment.
the making
Plane Blsmuth’s Blind Film, on the other hand, brings a diiierent cinematic expectation irom Brussels. In Tramway’s vast open space, a solitary but imposing projector stands. A soundtrack plays snippets oi dialogue, but where are the images? Forget silent movies, this is a iilm that’s visually impaired. You have to piece together a narrative trom the sounds alone, conjuring up images in your own projector: the mind’s eye.
(Paul Smith)
COLLECTIVE MEMBERS OPEN
Collective Gallery. lit/inlrro'gh rortil Sat 28 Sept.
The Collective Gallery is looking good these days. Set up over twelve years ago. during the past year or so it has sharpened its focus and in turn has become a space to watch. Showing work by local artists along with artists from further afield. it has a clearer exhibitions agenda and a regular run of group shows often curated by guest curators. lts Project Room. opened up last year. was another wise move. offering a vital space to artists to have what is often their first mini solo show. And with a membership of over 300 artists. there's no shortage of willing exhibitors.
This is the gallery‘s first Open since the mid-80s. Showing works by over IOO artists. it is by its nature a mixed- bag of an exhibition. But the space. three smallish white rooms which can sometimes be problematic when it comes to hanging. isn't too overloaded. Tackling every medium. there‘s seascapes and streetscenes to collages and portraits. Peter McGoldrick's Frenzy is a bare canvas. save for a portrait photograph at its centre. covered in greaseproof paper. The sitter’s identity is indiscernable through
Out to get: Billy McCall's Invasion (ii The Body Snatchers (detail)
the blun‘ing effect of the paper. One is left intrigued. From Caroline Woodley there's This ling/{sh ('ornet‘. A series of photocopies of rose beds and garden ponds that have been pined at floor level in one of the gallery's corners. and there's the surreal colliding with the improbable in John Beagles‘ photograph. Dead Cop. Splayed on the ground with his dark glasses still in situ. a pristine cop lies dead. Or perhaps not. For this appears to be a curiously bloodless killing. (Susanna Beaumont)
SHOPPING
Tlte Fringe Gallery. Castlemilk. Glasgow until Sat 28 Sept.
Ever bought something on the strength of the packaging and been surprised and delighted by the contents? Yes . . . well you should have an appetite for Tracey McConnell-Wood‘s Shopping at The Fringe Gallery. Working with local schools and youth groups. she has produced a video/sculptural installation which puts a spin on this beloved pastime.
After co-ordinating the creation of unique labels for the common tin can. McConnell-Wood has transformed the gallery into a rnini-fantasy- supermarket. fronted by a nine—screen video wall. The labels are bright and colourful. full of humour and boast some rare new talent. Ever tn'ed
Graham's Grist Gravy. CYC Tinned Goose or Lei gh‘s Sexy l’eus complete with high heels. lippy and attitude.
Of course. the potential exists to plunge into theory — ideas of consuming art in the consumer age — making galleries and artistic practice relevant to people and their everyday experience. But don‘t believe what you read (all the cans contain either beans, peas or peeled plum tomatoes).
Outside. McConnell-Wood’s video is an eye-catching montage of cans eternally piled up and down. the urban setting (high-rise flats looking attractive on a sunny day) and the local countryside. Read that as you will. but the simple fact is the work catches the imagination of young and old and makes a neutral visitor laugh. Bring a copy of The List and you can even take your favourite can home. What a
bargain! (Paul Welsh)
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Solo trlpper: a New Yorker in Glasgow’s underground
TBIPPING
Underground Stations, Glasgow until Mon 30 Sept. 0n Glasgow’s subway, commuters may have noticed the regular 2-!) advertising inhabitants - hoary Jack Daniels and the llouse oi Fraser Adonis - are being squeezed ior space. Soatee titan, Earring Man, Shades Man and Mad Ilalr Blrl (my descriptive shorthand) have arrived and they’re certainly not laughing. Snapped in law York, the colour and black and whlte photographs by Glasgow artist Anne Elliot appear to be standard, poster-steed adverts. But
' a they are selling nothing In particular.
Against a backdrop oi bland streets, dusty bus station ilyovers and chaotic bedsits, this gang oi impresarlos do
Stack them blgh: cans on show In Shopping '0‘ “a.” to m ' an" ’9'. M9”
drama or till our lives with most. This is
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a trip to Gloomsville and here things start to get Interesting. Stumble upon this public art and Ilie-realIy-Iived stares back. till they are dressed rather coolish but things don’t look particularly easy, pleasant or enviable on their Big Apple turi.
Behind Shades Man, is a building emblazoned with the words ‘llew Yorker’ - maker oi dreams and deiiner oi iashlon and lliestyle - on the street corner, standing defiant is a woman with her ieet ilrmly planted on the ground. While Goatee Man cruises Into view sipping liquor In Squatsvllle, his Sony TV switched oil. Can you blane him?
On another underground station, the same gang oi solo ilgures is spied. It begins to ieel like an exercise In morose companionship - but perhaps more companlonable than the iawnlng smilers, gazing out oi the ads. (Paul Welsh)
The List 20 Sept-3 Oct 1996 ‘3