FESTIVAL ART
A Life of lorca l‘ )c ' V g
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lorca in Spain
Murdered by Franco's forces in 1936, Federico Garcia Lorca was a contemporary of Dali, Bunuel and Pablo Neruda. A poet, playwright, artist, and a fervent supporter of the republican cause, Lorca has become a potent icon for liberal thinkers. Adopting an uncritical stance, A Life of Lorca provides a succinct summary of his friendships, successes and actions over the years.
Featuring drawings, paintings and original manuscripts, the exhibition could be read as sycophantic or simply a way of stimulating interest in a historical figure. But really this argument is irrelevant. Opinion remains divided over Lorca’s ability — Bunuel said he was not a great writer — but all agree that his spirit transcends critical fashion.
(Paul Welsh)
I A Life Of Lorca, City Art Centre, 529 3993, until 4 Oct, Mon—Sat 70am—5pm; Sun 2—5pm.
Precious Cargo
* it t * The 'fittest to colonise and multiply’. That was how the Scots were described by one Captain Thomas Forest in 1785. Forest spied in the ’Highlanders' a robust constitution, perfect for life in the Far East. Precious Cargo: Scots And The China Trade charts three centuries of trade
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China trade: from Precious Cargo at the Royal Museum of Scotland
and exchange between China and Scotland. From porcelain and silks to China tea, 'made in China' was the mark of a luxury item in theiBth century. Ingenioust designed, with walls covered in cardboard packing cases, the exhibition is a fascinating look at old trade routes and Scotland's influence on China.
(Susanna Beaumont)
I Precious Cargo, Royal Museum of Scotland, 225 7534, Mon—Sat 10am-5pm (Tue until 8pm) Sun noon—5pm.
Mirrorball: Stephane
Sednaoui ****
Sednaoui is the man who shot ijrk, Alanis Morisette, MC Solaar, Massive Attack and just about everyone else who counts on the music scene. Now an established music photographer and video director, he has helped create the visual language of contemporary music with a huge portfolio of fashion spreads, covers and videos.
His retrospective at Edinburgh College of Art compliments the Film Festival's Mirrorba/l video season with an eclectic mix of both his minimal work and his more extravagant theatrical photos. Complete with an installation of TV screens playing a selection of his music videos, this is a rare chance to feast on both his luscious prints and video. (Tanya Stephan)
I Mirrorba/l, Stephane Sednaoui, Edinburgh College of Art (Venue 73) 221 6032, until 30 Aug, daily 10am-5pm.
Gerhard Richter **** '
Richter is one of Germany's most revered artists. Famed and feted, he has reached that stage of his life when huge, swanky banking institutions commission him to paint whopping abstracts to fill their polished granite foyers.
That’s no bad thing. Richter is king of colour and paint glides across his canvases with the ease of rain down a window pane. At the Fruitmarket, though, we only get a couple of small
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Surrealism and After * * ir * *
Salvador Dali must have been tricky to pin down. A leaflet, announcing his appearance at London's International Surrealism Exhibition in 1936, stated
he would speak about either paranoia. die Pre-Raphaelites. Harpo Marx or phantoms. He was clearly a man of diverse interestswho liked to keep his
options open.
The leaflet. part of a mass of literature, letters and artworks from the Surrealism and Dada era, makes for fascinating viewing. Take the face of Breton - dubbed the pope of Surrealism - printed onto the head of the Statue of Liberty. The handiwork of Duchamp, it was the front cover for Breton's surreal-sounding Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares.
Forming part of the Gabrielle Keiller Collection. which also includes works- by the likes of Andy Warhol. Paolozzi and Ian Hamilton Finlay. it was bequeathed to the National Gallery Of Modern Art by Keiller. who died in 1995. A onetime champion golfer who married Dundee marmalade heir Alexander Keiller. Keiller certainly had an eye for art. She was one of Britain’s last private collectors of Surrealism. This is the Collection's first public showing.
tn the exhibition. a collage by Hannah Hoch hangs next to a work by Kurt Schwittei's, the master of tear and paste. Duchamp's oeuvre in miniature, “ including a doll's-size - or rather an action man‘s-size - urinal is also on ' display. Yves Tanguy's amorphous blobs in a barren landscape are there, along with a Picabia multi-layered portrait of numerous faces and sperm- like painted doodles by Miro.
This is a brilliant taste of the bizarre. humorous and subversive. (Susanna Beaumont) -
I Surrealism And After, National Gallery Of Modern Art (Venue 66) 556 8921, until 9 Now Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; Sun 11am-5pm.
Reading Room. Installation-cum- sculpture-cum-graphic art, this powerful work explores the inherent exploitation of people within the economic global market place.
In a darkened room, rows of individually lit lecterns are covered with the world’s broadsheets: the Financial Times, A/ Hayat, the South China Morning News. Each paper is opened on the business pages with columns filled with share prices and exchange rates. Photoc0pied on to the pages are staring faces. Old and young; black, white and brown — laughing and crying.
Rational yet inhumane economic decisions hit individuals hard. That's what Kennard says and that's what you feel when you walk out of this exhibition. (Paul Welsh)
I Reading Room, Edinburgh College of Art (Venue 73) 221 6030, until 30 Aug, lOam-Spm.
paintings and Richter's editions and multiples from the last 30 years shipped from London‘s Anthony D'Offay Gallery. It's definitely interesting and deserves a good look but if you know Richter's work you are left hungry for his canvases. If you don't know his work, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Richter is fond of blurring. His offset prints often have a ’melted’ look, rather like the view from a high speed train that is freeze-framed. He pushes the eye's automatic focus button. You can’t always focus and your vision is often teased. In one edition, a truck appears to be travelling down a road, but in fact, it is a toy car that has been strategically placed on a window sill looking out on the road. Richter illusion at its best. (Susanna Beaumont) I Gerhard Richter, Fruitmarket Gallery, 225 2383, until 27 Sep, Mon—Sat 10am—7pm; Sun noon—7pm-
Reading Room
STAR RATINGS ** ** *‘k‘k‘ki Unmissable *tti In our world-weary age, earnest *1“, 368/ film political artwork lS liable to leave most *1 Below average people cold. Not so Peter Kennard's * YOU'V‘? bee" warned