ART review
Roman Signer
Glasgow: CCA until Tue 3 Jun **ir*
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Balloons and ladders: a "happening' installation by Signer
Like any self-respecting stuntman, Roman Signer does not mess about. His 'experiments’ — treading on small
exploding detonators as if they were stepping stones or letting off a rocket attached to the woollen hat that he is wearing — are executed with cool precision. He looks the part too. Often wearing a helmet and a protective silver suit, he would be more at home on the set of The Thunderbirds.
Although these events, shown on video and in a series of photographs, are absurdly humorous and spectacular, they are also touched with menace. Often shot in an Alpine setting (Signer is Swiss), they are interventions on rural calm.
Watching Signer at work is what it might have been like to watch Newton sussing out gravity under an apple tree. Signer is school-boy-cum- scientist, obsessively exploring cause and effect.
The serious is punctuated with the comical in his work. In one video sequence, Signer is shown lying in bed as a large toy helicopter flies around his head, buzzing around like an annoying, outsize bluebottle. This is an intriguing show. (Susanna Beaumont)
Andrew Stones
Glasgow: Street Level until Sat 7 Jun ****
It can’t be often that the Queen pops up on the screen of a surveillance camera. The known haunts of these 'eyes' are shopping malls and clubs, places not usually associated with our monarch. But in Andrew Stones' line-up of wall-mounted CCTV monitors, her face certainly rules. The bank of screens shows the Queen, a touch imperwously, surveying us.
Even more unnerving is Stones' second installation, The Nature Of Their Joy. On opposite walls, two large photographs show rejoicrng, cheery London crowds. One is labelled 'l914: Celebrating The Declaration Of The
War', the other ’1918: Celebrating The Armistice.‘ The message is no less disturbing for its explicitness. Stones, however, takes it a step further. He has copied faces from both crowds onto transparencies and placed them in a watery solution. Held in a large glass flagon, the solution is pumped through transparent tubing, ceasing occasionally to allow microfiche viewers to focus on small specks which are faces. 'Their joy' has literally been mingled.
With hindsight it is comforting to believe that the 1914 crowd were ’blindly joyful’ and unaware of what was to come. More likely is that we blank-out the bellicose reality of human nature. An 'in the face’ exhibition if ever there was one (Susanna Beaumont)
Slight Edinburgh: Collective Gallery until Sat 24 May ir Hr *
Drawing has once again become a Viable option for the contemporary artist. Hard up, but with big plans for rocking the art world, the pencil, biro and felt tip have all become attractive prospects. Those Wishing to escape the costs and labour involved in mediums such as Video and photography can turn to paper and pens.
The best work in group show Slight reveals how the traditionally lowly position of drawmg has been reversed in the arts hierarchy. Karen Kilimnik, Rita Ackermann, Rachel Evans and DaVid Shrigley have consistently placed the cheap, immediate potential of drawrng at the centre of their work, producing images as powerful, disturbing, funny and perverse as any installation or video.
Kilimnik’s drawmgs are c0pied from photographs taken from glossy magazines’ society pages, and depict double-barrelled monsters, such as Francois de Brosse. Kilimnik's amateurish facsimile of the society figures' expensive facades robs them of their plastic perfection, producing an altogether more volatile image. The effect is compounded by acerbic
so THE usr 16—29 May i997
Girlie girl: a drawing by Karen Kilimnik accompanying text, which remarks that the Royals with their extravagant hats and personalities are determined to take over the world by killing everyone else.
Some other drawmgs occasionally suffer from being simply too coy and genumely ’slight’, lacking bite. Works by Tracey Emin and Thomas Sthtitte look like they were hastily knocked off to satisfy the international art market’s hunger. Nevertheless this is a return to form for the Collective - an excellent show. (John Beagles)
art
listings
Exhibitions are listed by category, then alphabeticall by city and venue. Please sen details to our office at least ten days before publication. Art Listings compiled by Helen Monaghan.
GLASGOW GALLERIES
ANNAN GALLERY
l64 Woodlands Road. 332 0028. Mon—Fri 10am-5pm; Sat l()am—l2.30pm.
Paintings, Prints, Photographs Until 24 May. A display of paintings. prints and photographs by various artists. including a photography collection of over 500 views of old Glasgow. I’m“! ({fMtiv‘It'Si.
ART EXPOSURE GALLERY
1‘) Parnie Street. 552 777‘). Mon—Sat
l lain—6pm.
New Sculpture Until 26 May. David Irwin's new wrought-iron sculptures of cameos of everyday situations.
New Scottish Jewellery Until 26 May. Work by Scotland's top jewellery designers and makers. Sarah Stewart. Leigh Fotheringhain arid Mandy Lee. I’ur! airway/inst.
The Art Exposure Open Until 26 May. The fourth annual art exposure open. sponsored by MacRobert Solicitors. features over one hundred Scottish artists with paintings all priced under £300. Purl (if'i‘klrtv/i'sr.
BARCLAY LENNIE FINE ART
203 Bath Street. 226 5-113. Mon—Fri l0am—5pm.
Glasgow Style Until Sept. A mixed show featuring work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Toinie M. King and Norman Kirkhaiu. l’ur! ()fMuv/t'sl.
THE BIG ISSUE IN SCOTLAND
Top Floor. 2‘) College Street. 559 5555. Mon-«Fri l().30am-—4.30pm.
Dom Collective Until 23 May. Paintings. stained glass. stone carvings and ceramics by the Horn Collective. which is an international group of artists based in lidinburgh‘s ()ld Town. l’ur! ()_/ .thiv/i'st.
ROGER BILLCLIFFE FINE ART I34 Blythswotxl Street. 332 4027. Mott—Fri ‘).30ain~5.30pm; Sat l0am- lpiti.
i Luz Prateada Until 27 May. Silver
tableware from Roger Millar. exclusively created for this Mayfest lixhibilion which e\plores the properties of the material and its reflective qualities. I’iirl ()f .I'Iriv/i'sl.
Joanna Constantinidis Until 27 May. New work consisting of stoneware pots. Par! 0] .llitv/i'sl.
The Art Of Logic Until 27 May. An exhibition oonrdon K. Mitchell's paintings which are a reaction to his life. his moods. the world around hint and ‘the human condition'. using humour aitd irony to interpret his thoughts.
CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 752 l. Mott-Sat l lani- ()pm; Sun noon —5piti. Cafe.
Roman Signer l'ntil 7 Jun. Swiss artist. Roman Signer uses explosives. air pumps. catapults and the physical forces of nature in his work. This exhibition of photographs and video documents his work during the past twenty years. l’ur! (Utility/tart. See preview and Lectures & l-Zvents.
David Shrigley Until 7 Jun. New work from this Glasgow artist with a commissioned series of new sculptures for the (‘('A. l’url ()fMtiij/bst
COLLINS GALLERY
University of Strathclyde. 22 Richmond Street. 552 4400 ext 2682. Mon Fri l0aiii--Spin; Sat noon «1pm. ID].
Untold Tales Until l4 Jun. liiiibroidered panels by Norwegian artist lngerid
Hit List
The best exhibitions this fortnight. Andrew Stones The Queen is covered on CCTV surveillance cameras and the nature of joy is put under the microscope in two installations that leave a definite impact. See review. Street Level Glasgow until Sat 7 Jun. Roman Signer Exploding water-filled wellies and Christmas trees flung out of windows are caught on video and in photographs by Swiss artist, Signer. Compelling art terrorism at its best. See review. C CA Glasgow until Tue 3 Jun. Slight Drawings in biro, felt tip and pencil reclaim the gallery space in this group show. The line-up includes Tracey Emin, David Shrigley and Karen Kilimnik. See review. Collective Gallery Edinburgh until Sat 24 May.
Blueprint Utopia bites the dust in this group show that tackles notions of architectural dreams and schemes. Nathan Coley's slide show is an amusing and telling take on marketing corrugated sheds as 'designer' pigeon lofts. Glasgow Print Studio Glasgow until Sat 24 May.
Liam Gillick The third of four projects sees London artist, Gillick, shoot his video documentaries on the streets of Glasgow and then screen them in the gallery. Transmission Gallery Glasgow until Tue 20 May.
Blakstad. including a set of 78 Tarot Cards inspired by The Castle 0f C mxset/ [)t’.\‘iflift’.\‘ by Italo Calvino. Part Of May/inst.
COMPASS GALLERY
I78 West Regent Street. 22l 6370. Mon—Sat l0am—5.30pm.
A Patch Of Their Own Until 28 May. Paintings by ()0 prominent artists on aspects of the Gardens and Allotments Movement. Featured artists include James Robertson. Jack Knox. Neil MacPherson and Anda Paterson. Part Of May/ext.
18 KING STREET
King Street. 552 2540. Tue—Sat
noon—o m.
Secon Site Until I7 May. Art exhibition of work by artists from the WASPS studio. Purl ()erivfesr.
Kith Tue 20 May—l Jun. Paintings. mixed media and performance by sixteen graduates of Glasgow School ofArt.
545 SAUCHIEHALL STREET
545 Sauchiehall Street (Charing Cross). Mon—Sat noon—6pm.
Venus Flower Basket Until 29 May. A (i()00sq ft section of showroom space has been turned into a gallery for Mayfest‘s largest contemporary painting exhibition. Artists include Rosemary Beaton. Alison Harper. Mary Maelean. Jess Quinn. Fiona Robertson and Lorraine Turley. Part Of allay/est.
40 OSBORNE STREET 40 ()sborne Street. 552 2330. Mon—Sat noon--7pin.