Art
MIXED MEDIA GREYSCALE/CMYK Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 20 Oct 0..
It may seem an impossible feat to ‘crowd’ Glasgow’s Tramway, but the effect of Greyscale/CMYK, even within this gargantuan space, is decidedly busy. Over 40 artists are represented in this take on the themed exhibition in which works are divided according to whether they are ‘greyscale’ (black, white, grey) or ‘CMYK’ (colour).
While the diversity and sheer quantity of work cannot be questioned, the quality and depth of the work on show is undoubtedly variable. The good news, however, is that with so many artists involved you’re going to get some good stuff.
The good stuff, in this instance, is kindly supplied by artists such as Toby Paterson, whose installation is more of the same, but impressive nonetheless. The continuing architectural themes explored by Paterson are reflected in the wall colours of the installation which, appropriately, could have come straight from the palette of Queen’s Cross Housing Association’s close and stairwell schemes.
In Per Wizén’s work a chocolate- box image of a carousel is sullied by a view into the dark underbelly of the fair. Below ground blinkered, bridled horses walk in a lunatic
asylum circle, tethered to a central pole which rotates the carousel above their heads. It makes analogies with the industrial revolution, miners, slave ships and the subservience of animal to man, but the overall effect, disturbingly, is one of black humour. Any serious political undertones are banished by the association with the League of Gentlemen’s Papa Lazarou or the Ladybird book The Discontented Pony.
Elsewhere, Salla Tykka’s film, Power, is one of the most jarring works in the show. It depicts a
Hang Ten Sunset by Katarina Lofstrom
small bare-breasted woman (the artist) boxing and sparring with a huge man. While the retro boxing gear and slow, grainy Raging Bull- style filming successfully buy into boxing as a genre in visual terms, the implied theme of the work is clumsy and cliched. Tykka may be attempting to invert the assumed equations of sex-equals-power and nudity-equals-vulnerability but the juxtaposition of such well-worn stereotypes seems, ironically, to dig only a little deeper than Ice T’s album cover of the same name. (Susannah Thompson)
PAINTING JON SCHUELER lngleby Gallery, Edinburgh, until 2 Nov 000.
Silvery light suggests itself in Jon Schueler's desperately beautiful painting series The SOL/[7d of S/eaf: Night. The American-born artist moved from New York and the company of Rothko to Mallaig. Scotland in 1970. and this exhibition focuses solely on his initial period here. GaZing out into the darkness. Schueler's richly textured paintings seduce the eye with their dark. muted. colours. With only the bare shapes of form to imply a landscape. Schueler's aim to paint the sense of the land rather than actual land is wholly realised. The yision into darkness invokes a powerful sense of infinity and stillness.
The second grouping — The SCI/{7d of Sleat: Red in a Summer Night — introduce a new colour to the palette: orange. Bold bands of this vivid hue sweep across the canvas and the works have moved further into the world of abstraction. Less peaceful than the first set. these paintings reveal a creative fire inspired by Schueler's new home. There is a distinct air of wonder as this artist discovers his surroundings. Lastly are a series of four lithographs. Streaks of orange show a sky shot with colour.
The show eprOres Scnueler's relationship with the Sound of Sleat in its early, formative stages: it was to be a life long love affair. (Ruth Hedgesi
The Sound of Sleat: Summer Night, I (Romasaig) 94 THE LIST Zi—sl 7 Oct 2002
PAINTINGS JOHN BYRNE Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow, until 9 Nov 0000
A virtuoso exhibit by Paisley-born. multi—talented polymath John Byrne. this is his first major show Since the (a) 60 retrospective in his home town two years ago. It displays a multitude of influences and techniques. at times charming and at others a bit disturbing.
Despite the venue (and misleading publiCity imageSI. these are paintings not prints. Oil on board. bold brushstrokes and distressed scrapings of the palette knife.
Several are self-portraits. reworking the same cocked- head pose: Byrne's eyes askance and signature ‘tache at a rakish angle. In contrast to the dark hues of some pieces. his portrait of partner Tilda Swinton (entitled Star) is as luminous as the actor herself — and apparently the only work here not done in a flurry of activity over the past six months.
The Assassin. with its intense Guerni‘ca-like Symbolism. is emotionally charged. while madness is apparent in the strangled scream of '1’ g. .i gar-la", “are?
Loony Tunes. In his faux- a j naive family pOrtrait Jung/e Jinx. kin are literally at each other's throats.
And so. inevitably. Byrne's revelations about his grandfather's incest — secret history only recently made known to him — and mother‘s reSLiltant mental instability are brought to mind. But this show is not some Out-pouring of bile and grief. Unlike a few (IOIIIBITIpOTaTIGS. Byrne simply has come clean on such dark discoveries rather than cynically . . exploit them. (Barry Shelby) Star
INSTALLATION/MIXED MEDIA NEW WORK SCOTLAND 2002 Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, until 27 Oct 0...
The Collective's season of new art opens with the work of Ruth Ewan and Kevin Reid. They are an unlikely pair. Ewan has turned half the gallery into a ‘temporary community centre' with a library of books (inViting you to borrow). an old dart board. games. sofas and coffee making facilities. conjuring up the appearance and atmosphere of a well- used youth club. The pin board has the note: “Need darts'. and the furniture/facilities are purposefully shabby. But it is. even in the art gallery space. used - resources are enjoyed (even mobbed at weekendsl. And by creating it here. Ewan's installation offers a message of criticism (how starved of resources so many youth/community centres are) and also of hope (how. despite this. such spaces are crucial to communities and are invested With true devotion). Her work, interestingly. shares ideas with the N55 collective's project SHOP. currently at the CCA (see Glasgow Life).
Kevin Reid's work goes to the other extreme — from Ewan's social realism we go to Reid's indiwdual Surrealism. A video diary shows the experience of the character Harry Butler. Constantly hidden behind a lycra balaclava-like mask. only his eyes can be seen as Harry spends a month in a Sicilian monastery. building up to a dare deVil stunt. As his lips move beneath the mask. he narrates his experience dead pan. The seriousness is brilliantly done against this most crazy challenge. His commitment is strangely impressive and the humOLir wr0ught from the scenario very clever.
An unlikely pair, maybe. but Ewan and Reid make a nice dynamic start the series. (Ruth Hedges)