Art
Mr/l i; Mi T.
IFTIKHAR DADI AND ELIZABETH DADI
Street Level, Glasgow. until Sat 15 Mar 0...
Unusually for King Street, there are none of your subtle, muted, enigmatic sculptural statements here. This is an all-singing, all- dancing, glorious Technicolor mélange of an exhibition by Karachi and New York-based artists Iftikhar Dadi and Elizabeth Dadi.
In They Made History Dadi and Dadi present a post-colonial critique of how the west reads, consumes and re-interprets non- western history. The faces of great, non-western men appear in a series of gaudy circular lightboxes. Set against acid-coloured backgrounds these disembodied heads emanate rays of light which would make Baz Luhrmann squint. Behind them, scenes of sunsets, space and waterfalls are reminiscent of 'Krishna consciousness‘ handbooks or punchy street ads from South East Asia. But the kitsch look of these works is more than pure aesthetics. In using the faces of actors from Hollywood biopics, rather than the faces of the historical figures themselves, the artists ape media deception, presenting simulacra of Gandhi, Malcolm X, Genghis Khan, Geronimo and Zapata rather than the real deal. That the faces of Ben Kingsley, Denzel Washington, John Wayne and Chuck Connors are almost synonymous with the
PAIN r we PETER LYNCH
lngleby Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 8 Mar 0000
characters they have portrayed demonstrates the ease with which the media can skew our historical associations, and, essentially, rewrite popular history.
Pasted directly onto the walls of gallery 2, Clash of Civilisations is a series of monumental digital images in the form of cinema billboards. Taking their title from Samuel Huntington’s prophetic
“MN t IM; ALISON MCGILL
Scottish lltlzttllllCIll‘?fitlt'f£l(1(?<)l{t{‘l‘f)(t()itti(}{izlk(r(i()'.(?"(:(t‘tt tinck. Gallery. (:rearr‘y I(Zfll(l and \ouVe sor"e ‘.'.’a\. to Itet;(t."t7:'rg tt‘e texture-“t Edinburgh. untiI trnrsh of Peter lyricle H‘r'lrrmti parv‘trr‘gs. lr‘ the "at" gamer). Wed 5 Mar sumptuous. alr'lost eo hie pa "2 'igs .rr n‘or‘ochvcr'e a rgr‘ 1’10 0.. walls. From the coffee co‘oured rtarr‘t stzppleti :: (rflt: o" u: the Right Wing to [Do to the ‘urrd g'ee't ll’es'verxre'? '.r'e"‘;:' lls'cg max a”: of Irrrres Past. rerr‘rnrscent of [1‘s ho'ne "tier :1'::. Peter 1 or! or‘ car“ as
seduces the urea-(er with colour. texttxe ar‘o tec'": :i..-:,- Deceptr\.'(‘:l\. srrrrple. lyncn's palr‘tnrgs are :t::":‘e"‘-::;t the physrca! art of painting. the edges of’ t"e turnas '-;,-'.ea .".;f; x'rorkrrrarrshrp as traces of hiue. Mack and a'rr‘. {ye-u" make up the ret§ultrhg Irgt‘t hrown (:o‘otrr. He .rses ra;.e' upon ayer of paint. dragging rt across the cartyas to form a reign. almost Artex-Irke appearance. Lurch the" hreaks up the <:orrlr‘os.tren hy scoring Wlltt his finger -r‘te the part. creatl'tg dr‘. d'r‘g tic-:33 and hounda'res.
resultrng ar‘ almost
Deceptively simple
78 THE LIST 27 Feb- ‘3 Ma' .9303
aerwar ahstract rar‘oscape. And I: if; this gesture. the \. s:hle artzsts "ar‘d. that makes these works so appeal-"g
[gulch's parrtmgs rt“-.II(? dare: C?()"'.€‘:ltll)'atr()l‘ For nosta'ga ‘or mi. cnroheoo. though these pant "gs are "ct childl-ke out are ‘ ihsf‘catea new executed and delectahre rHelen Monagnam
A s::"- MCCL' creates arsf'acf landscapes that we coloure: ir, her heightened rrnagrnatron.
t"e co ours e. :Jke
rlsahet‘a \‘Jerr:
own style ‘.'.'rtl‘. the land. The wax adds three drrner‘rsronal contours to the parntrngs and rr‘tehsrtres the echoes of reality that are audible heneath the rrrtagrhary colours.
McGrll's terrestr al landscapes are perhaps more appealing than her aerral landscapes which are slightly rernrnrsct-znt oi the trtles o.‘ EastFnr/ers minus the grey. However. her interpretations of dawn. a stem loch or a russet 'andscape are powerfu yet '.-./h:rnsrca| evocations that induce colourful rexer es :n the ‘.’r(;‘.'.’€3r and rrlvrte
They Made History
thesis, the timing of these less- than-subtle works could hardly be more appropriate. In the wake of September 11th, the billboards recall the propagandist rhetoric of President Bush’s recent spaghetti western monologues as much as any generalist allusions to Hollywood’s age-old, unquestioning assumption that the west is best. (Susannah Thompson)
Summer Aerial View
Blues. greens. purples and < ranges rr‘rx to recreate a magical world of colour that offers a cocoon from the grey chrll of winter. Although these rrhages supersede nature they are strll recognrsahle as the places our rrrragrnatlons escape to when we need to dream of tr‘ahgu'llrty and fresh arr. It nature was thrs hold. we would never he Inside. McGrll's flrgl‘ts of fancy have taken her over the hrlls and glens to the heaxrn‘s above for her hrrd's eye yrew of the earth and Its ocear‘s. all of which she recreates rn her .rax and on (ltfttrrlltlltlt‘tl the la, ot the
titer“ to get lost these ‘arhrrar yet tl(:‘.'.’ lands.
PETER DONALDSON KALIN LINDENA AND TOBIAS PUTRIH
Transmission Gallery. Glasgow. until Sat 8 Mar 0..
: V n ' 1' l 2' t :' ir-f'tw' t r t' l3 r‘ ’ ‘r “w . I ‘t‘f ‘ ‘ t t ‘ .vt t' 1‘ .' 'l l ’r‘ir‘lll. lir\T-‘y\w H. 1 't,-- .wr r- .irltwar Lint
filth“. wri' it illssat/li'd [t rr ’l’lr'l' ttw- next (Zr \nentw': rims trit- 'tlllt" I‘. ,i 'rrrrt ix, constructorr (it wilted papi-r anrt slrrn °.'-.‘."rts l“t)1ll‘.lt'tl’)ll£l|ltlt‘ 'andrxtape. filltl’)t§fitlll<; the halt f'nrshed plans tor a Woman <irt,, or sorrretlzrni; .r hard.'.orl\rr‘.g arr hrtsrrt rtreafr‘s ot unherr (lt,l‘.'.’|ll'; ur, plans tor ar‘other sutitr'han estitt: l or all their tlrrnsrrtess. these arr,- ‘f‘.’()(’(tf!‘.t: preres
Kalrrr l Irvlerra rs rrtirrgh rr‘ori: robust, t'llrng a ‘.'.’7l|l .'.’l'.l‘. hast‘, titrrsts trorv‘ thr- spra; can, roro'o martin-xix and srrrppets of text An acc')rnpanwrrg hole alludes to the couer ‘.’t:l‘;|t)li, and lrnrlena seems to he '.'ersrorrrng the world around he'. picking orld rnotes out of the ether and slapping therr‘ ught there on the wall \.-.rrthout pausing to think why she has noticed them llnlrke l’trtrrh's sculptures. ‘.’.’tll(,ll are unfinished hut corrrplete, l rndena's wall piece has the feel of a nork perpetually rn progress. an outpouring of ideas.
l rnally, Peter Donaldsoh's [he /a// of Babylon perches in the corner like a particularly rrralevolent gargoyle. l'hrs Video. shot In the manner of a no budget prorno from the rrrrd 805;. shows two rnythrcal characters hattlrng rt out on a rrrountarn and rigging to a soundtrack of twee Japanese pop. It's hard to shake the teelrng that. should you reach out and touch the rrionrtor. your hand would come away covered rrr a greasy slick of poisonous rrony. Still. two out of three isn't bad. tJack Mottrarrri