ART REVIEW
FILTHY SWAN - lEAVE THE CAPITOL
Edinburgh College of Art until Wed 27 Ilov.
There’s one thing about the bloke-art collective known as Filthy Swan - the past is there to be explored rather than teared or forgotten.
It’s in Toby Paterson’s transparent aeroplane surveying the aerodrome in ‘Don’t Know When I’ll Be Back Again’; it’s there in the title of one of Paterson’s abstract slabs of sectioned deep hues, ‘In The End lt’s llot The Future But The Past That’ll Get Ds’; it’s abundantly clear in the show’s (literal) centrepiece, a dinky roundabout with just enough room for two; heck, it’s even in the Motown classics soundtrack played overhead.
Above all, the past is captured in
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Boys Dwn: Toby Paterson’ 'lle‘t Year: Paintings Foilan Crause
Robert Johnston’s photograph, ‘1977’, shot from atop a trimmed hedge and showing a suburban garden. Of course, it could simply relate to the house number, shown on the gate and on the house, but that year was responsible for the Silver Jubilee, Star Wars (quoted in the past by the group), punk and Britain’s last Wimbledon singles winner.
It may even be inspired by Ash, the llorthern Irish pop group who acknowledged the year’s significance in their album’s title. Which is as clumsy a link as you’ll ever read to get to the wittiest piece in the exhibition - Gary Ilough’s ‘Memo’, a riposte to the authors of cigarette packet warnings. Scribbled on lined paper ripped from a memo pad are instances of the real dangers of smoking, such as holding a pint and lag in the same hand. (Brian Donaldson)
TAKING EACH CAME AS IT COMES
Museum of Transport, Glasgow, unfll April 1997 Anyone who doesn’t believe that football has truly entered the national psyche should hark back to Tony Blair’s recent conference speech. Ilis usurping of the new unofficial English national anthem penned by Skinner and Baddiel to parallel his party’s lack of success in the Premiership stakes (‘Labour’s coming home’) serves as an introduction to the Scottish Football Museum’s multi-media exhibition Taking Each Game As It Comes. Commencing with interactive info- points, where you can call up statistics on teams and players, the exhibition divides into sections such as A Way 0! Life with tributes to Scottish footballing greats, Stein and Dalglish; My Favourite Moment/Team/ Player; andFootbalI Art, which features Jim Scullion’s moving tribute to Davie Cooper, Peter llowson's array of grotesqueries in Just Another Bloody Saturday, and John Mcllaught’s intriguing observation that the Wales 1977 strip is perfect for lino cutting. Above all though, this exhibition is
Cheek to cheek: Jlm leishman being kissed
about, and for, the fans. This Supporting life focuses on the rise of the fanzine, which served as the supporters’ means to enforce change at their clubs - most dramatically in the ‘Sack The Board’ campaigns of Celtic and Manchester City supporters. Best fanzine title goes to Dillingham - Brian Moore’s Ilead looks Uncannin like The london Planetarium.
There are few footballing stones unturned. The women’s game, footie- haters, agents, referees, stewards (one ejecting a fan for ‘simulating masturbation’ at Motherwell followers - hardly a crime) and Jimmy Hill are all represented. Disabled fans and the impact made by black players are the only glaring omissions but there is much to admire and build on here. (Brian Donaldson)
W FROM THE ATTIC
[8 King Street. Glasgow until Sat 23 Nov.
A gallery boasting no artistic agenda. 18 King Street continues to showcase various styles from a wide range of artists. In the second part ofthe predominantly figurative show. From The Attic. the skill and craft of six artists is obvious in a selection of etchings. lithographs. pastels. oils and screen-prints. In them. traditional subjects — mythological creatures. fruit and pottery still-lifes — mix with brooding landscapes and Picasso-esque life:stgdi_es_._g
Seemineg unambiguous in the extreme. this type of show can be criticised for not asking enough challenging questions — art of the wallpaper variety -- but equally. the viewer could be to blame. Murray Robertson's urban re-interpretations of ancient Buddhist mandalas exemplify the problem. To the eye ignorant of Eastern philosophy -— the significance of the circle in the square. or ideas regarding the movement ofenergy through the universe -— Robertson‘s deliberately llat images would appear even flatter. If informed. however. they are powerfully suggestive. Figuratively speaking. it's a sobering thought fora culture drunk on relentless innovation. (Paul Welsh)
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--- Glasgow
firtarllblilonofpnrisreldlngtolhemadaanoagoflhebead Procession, films a literarg events to run concurrentlg. Phone OIQI 552 0704 for details. lst November - 23 november l996
Glasgow Print Studio Gallery, 22 King St, Glasgow Gl SOP Open: lllon - Sat lOam - 5.30pm
Willie Dodger
2nd - 23rd November 1996
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Original Print Shop, 25 King Street, Glasgow Gl 501 Open: man - Sat lOam - 5.30pm
IEIIE'I— ANNE REDPATH
Scottish National Gallery ()me/ern Art. lirlinlnrrg/t until Sun I9 Jun. Anne Redpath is known for her still lifes -- tables with lacy tablecloths set with vases of flowers. fruit and pretty china. But this gives a rather dull impression. ()ne of Scotland's most notable artists of the mid-20th century. Redpath. who died in I965. was much tnore than just a painter of decorative domestic clutter.
In this major retrospective. what comes across is Redpath's brilliant use of colour. ller paintings use a palette of sun-soaked colours — she lived for fourteen years in France and spent much time travelling around countries bordering the b'lediterranean. As with Matisse. another great lover ofthe Med (Redpath visited Colliourc. Matisse‘s
favourite coastal hang-out). Redpath‘s work was fired by colour. even after returning to her native and more dreich Hawick in the l93()s.
Redpath was no slave to perspective. Her images flatten space. with rugs. table tops and wallpaper becoming part of a greater decorative scheme. The artist attempted to convey the essence of a scene. avoiding giving a slavisth realistic representation. In l942‘s The Indian Rug. a pair of red slippers are shown on a rug near the legs of a red chair. A close-up of an everyday scene perhaps. but it transcends the mundane. Like the interiors of Vuillard. it is a lot to do with mood and colour sensation.
In her later works the brush strokes are freer and the paint often thicker. In A Venetian (lllll't'll of l963. impastoed paint rises out from the canvas — it resembles an artist's easel. the dry paint mountainous and rich. But like some ancient icon. it is rrruch more than the sum of its parts. (Susanna Beaumont)
Ile'd shoes: lledpath’s The Indian llug from 1942
14 Th7: List {5:28 Nov I996