SCULPTURE SHINGU Glasgow School Of Art, Glasgow, Sat 15 Sep-Sat 27 Oct.
The desire to create harmony between high technology and nature lies at the heart of Shingu's kinetic sculptures. For over 30 years. the Osaka-born sculptor and illustrator Susumu Shingu has been making moveable sculptures which delicately interact With the natural forces of wind and water. With work sited all over the world including France. Italy. Japan and the United States. Shingu has certainly made his mark on the planet.
For Glasgow School of Art. Shingu will be showing two large sculptures. Drop of Light and Cloud. along with smaller works Time Prism and Sky Reflection. Models and photographic documentation of previous projects are also included in the display. together with photographs of his latest project Wind Caravan.
The Wind Caravan project consists of 21 temporary lightweight sculptures placed in six remote global locations. from a frozen lake in Finland and an uninhabited island off New Zealand to the Rocky Atlas mountain in Morocco to Fortaleza in Brazil.
PHOTOGRAPHY
LONDON PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARDS 4 Street Level. Glasgow, until Sat 22 Sept .00
Although the set text for the fourth London Photographic Awards was lmitiaz Dharker's Whim, a vague and melancholic poem about in-between states. many of the entries pOrtray characters who show unmistakable pride in their unusual choices. Take Fernando Sancho's trio of life-size portraits of bullfighters in their underpants. all displaying deeply gouged scars. Likewise. it's as if Simon Brown's tattooed and pierced lady and Matthew Murray's Philip. a female impersonator, have inscnbed their characters onto their very skin. These are not people who are just caught in historical events. but who
have actively chosen their role in life.
The winning entry by Austrian born artist Eva Maria Reigler is a study of the eyes of four generations of women. The eyes look down on red strips on which are written all the years of their lives. The paper is red and the birth dates of Reigler's mother and grandmother are grimly familiar: 1939 and 1914.
You can also trace the association of war and suffering in
‘When I decided to do this project. I recognised that l have so many talented friends all over the world and I wanted to make a kind of proof that we are living on the same planet.‘ says Shingu. ‘Normally when I make my sculptures. I
just seem to visit big cities like New York.
Paris and London. but I soon realised that the rest of our planet is more natural but I didn't know anything about it.‘
The whole experience for Shingu was revelatOry. Focusing on environmental concerns while working with local communities in these far-flung places.
PAINTING
Nov.
Reza Dabui's portrait of a sleeping 60—year-old relative. who
has temporarily escaped from scenes of brutality in Iran.
But some of the most appealing works in the exhibition are indeed elusive and whimsical: these are all portraits of women in mellow chiaroscuro light. like Eleni Monzahiti's blurring divas in theatres. receiving kisses and drowsing in dressing rooms. or J0 Van Katwijk's enigmatic study of two women. one of whom seems to be more a ghostly familiar than a flesh companion. This sense of illusion is echoed in Stefan Walter's photograph of striped flags blowing from trees. like a darkened set from an old musical. (Sarah Lowndes)
The winning work by Eva Maria Reigler
with suspicion.
'electronic brush'.
EMIL SCHUL‘I’ Lloyd Jerome Gallery, Glasgow, Tue 11 Sep-Sun 11
Shingu’s kinetic sculptures delicately interact with the natural forces
Shingu discovered that there is much that they can teach us.
‘We can probably find some hint of how to live in the future because our civilisation is deteriorating very rapidly,’ he says. 'Everything is about the power of politics and the economy but we have to think about the future of Our planet and to find a way to live more harmoniously with nature. I feel we can still learn a lot of things from the indigenous people who are living on the borderline between civilisation and nature.‘ (Helen Monaghan)
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Berlin Brandenburg Gate by Emil Schult
Whether it's pop stars in movies or TV presenters writing novels. anyone who is lauded for their work in one art form but then turns to explore opportunities in another. is viewed
This has never been a problem for Emil Schult. He found fame as part of legendary electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. His pad in designing the band's artwork and his own art. however, has been dwarfed in comparison to his music. For his Glasgow debut. a retrospective of his work Will be exhibited in an attempt to redress this balance.
Kraftwerk were always ahead of their time With their representations of the future. and both sonically and visually. Schult can be seen as a visionary with his paint brush as much as with his drum machine. Kraftwerk's musical dormancy over the past decade has meant Schult has devoted more time to art.
Working with a variety of media. Schult is even now fascinated by technology and the future. He highlights painting on plexi glass as a particular favourite — employing graphic. almost cartoony brushstrokes onto the transparent surface. He also manipulates TV 'test cards' with what he calls an
Schult is not concerned with people's preconceptions of 'artist' and 'musician' (he has composed a small piece to accompany one of the exhibits here) and has a more general phiiOSOphy on life and work. 'No matter what I call myself. my vvish is to influence the existing conditions (art-culture-politics- technology-philosophy-science etc) in such a way that they become favourable for all living beings.‘ (Mark Robertson)
Art
PAINTING
I WANT TO BECOME AN OLYMPIAN Tchai-Ovna, Glasgow, until Sat 29 Sep 0...
Unknown Gymnast
An eccentric contrast to the sterility of white- cube galleries or Starbucks-style cafes. Christine Niehoff's paintings of y0ung gymnasts are dotted in dark corners. hidden alcoves and amid the general clutter at Tchai- Ovna.
The beatnik teenager's bedroom look is an appropriate backdrop for Niehoff's work. As individuals rather than stereotypes. Kristie. Olga and Nelli may be Olympians but they are also teenagers. The Winner in Gymnastics series is tOuching without being sentimental. Written statements lie beneath medallion pOrtraits of beaming. toothy gymnasts like Nelli: ‘Many gymnasts seem serious. Not Nelli. She looks like she‘s having fun. But now Nelli trains only about an hour each day. She says she would rather listen to Stevie Wonder records.’
Images of gymnastic floorwork line the walls of an intimate alcove. Frieze is exeCLited in a medium uSually reserved for cakes — royal icing on jasperware blue. If this is ironic. so too is Niehoff's biography of fictional gymnast Alina Theodorescu. highlighting Niehoff's up. view of media sensationalism. While she acknowledges family pressures. cruel trainers and stolen childhoods. it is success. free will and youth that are at the heart of these winning paintings.
(Susannah Thompson)
(3 Sep I’()Sej>1)()t)l THE LIST 85