PAPER CUTOUT”; SIMON PERITON: MINT POISONER lnverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Sat 31 May-Sun 27 Jul
Simon Periton makes doilies - taking an object that is the nadir of naff, the apogee of twee, and setting it up in opposition to his subject matter, which is confrontational, even violent. He hit upon this unusual practice by accident.
‘I was trying to find a way of working with a lot of effort and activity,’ Periton says. ‘But that was essentially a kind of useless, highly decorative act. I was trying all sorts of things, making things out of odds and ends I had lying around. I sprayed through some things, and one of the things was a doily. It fell on the floor, and after a while I found it, and looked at it and thought: “This is what I'm looking for, that’s what a doily is: a useless, decorative and beautiful object. Its only purpose is
top of a plate.“
Flt M 8. PHOTOGRAPHY CAVE: SALLA TYKKA Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 8 Jun .00.
The immediate response to Salla Tykka's photographs and films is: 'What on earth is going on here?‘ The trilogy of beautifully crafted short films — Cave. Lasso and T/iri/Ier — all feature a young woman. She might well be the same young woman, although the character is played by different actors.
In each film, the woman runs and exchanges riteaningful glances. sometimes with herself, in a mirror. Her relationships With other characters are strained and there s tension that may be sexual. In Cave. the woman scrabbles in a muddy pool. In Lasso she peeps through a Window at a man dOing tricks With his lasso. In Thriller she shoots a sheep. Something is gomg on here. but Tykka only suggests and alludes. bOrrowing s0undtracks from westerns and horror flicks and empIOying the language of cinema in a manner verging on the cliched to imply weighty themes. complex kinships and a brooding sense of dread.
This tactic is at play in her photographs too. but where the films SUCK the audience in, demanding that they supply a storyline. the still images. again mostly of young women acting oddly in unusual situations. lack the scope of Tykka's film work. The same questions arise. but can be shrugged off more eaSily. In the end. the pleasure to be had from VieWing Tykka's work is in the rumination and wondering — is she playing With identity? Are these self—portraits? Is she dissecting film technique? Does it matter? — safe in the knowledge that her films and photography are so obtuse as to evade answering the questions they raise. (Jack Mottrami
Thriller 2002
to live underneath a cake and on
Periton’s take on the doin is not, needless to say, merely decorative: each piece exists at the intersection
of painting and sculpture. ‘A lot of people regard them as some sort of comment about painting,‘ he says. ‘But I think that‘s mainly because they hang on a wall. If anyone asks me what I do, I tend to say that I’m more of a sculptor.‘
For Mint Poisoner - an anagram of the artist‘s name - Periton is making a series of doilies depicting nature. ‘l've made lots of riot scenes.‘ he says, ‘because the delicate and useless property of the work lends itself to making a comment on those ways of being. For this show, the images were taken in Costa Rica. but I don‘t really expect them to be lifelike renditions of a jungle or a tree. I‘ve chosen specific things I was drawn to, whether it's an odd root structure, or a view into the rainforest with this multilayered, panoramic canopy. The show will be a lot darker, a lot more sinister than I imagine the gardens looking in early June.‘ (Jack Mottram)
Mint Poisoner
Turas, Isle of Tiree
ARCl ll l’bdNfliE. AND i)i.8i(‘i:\l COMMON-PLACE The Lighthouse, Glasgow, until Wed 11 Jun 000.
Corrin‘ori-p/ace is a touring exhibition initiated and curated b. the Lighthouse as part of a ser-es ‘i.'t<le<: t). the Scottist‘ Executive. '.'.rhose policy or‘ architecture .iiideipi'is the ce'tfra concerns of the project. It expic'es the notion cf iwhat constitutes it. how it can be use}. .yhat f take) through a showcase of rune Scottish arc'utectixe and design proiects. Corriprised train; of lHUY"!ll£tIf:(} text and photographic panels — supplemented by rr‘odeis. 'lra'.'/.".gs and large-screen proiectior‘s ~ the exhbztmr‘. sets fr‘ese specific. conten‘porary exari‘;;'es of '<;:)r".i".o"- space intrzguing contextual historical frame-sicrk.
Through highlighting these ".ar.able. alterriat'rg and .i':i.s..a' public spaces. the exhib;tio't stir ,essfuli, atfer'pts t<, rerl'ess and reuwerit our perceptoris of what snared. efii‘iwtariar: municipal spaces can be. So. we have i/Qliies of ri'fijtrts as the 'i‘obile cineri‘a Screen Machine. the Highlantis and Islands of Scotlanzl to paces where a
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‘.'l(}'.'.’ll‘.é} platforrr‘ on the lsle of Tiree; Pottenrcx. (Bar'ier‘s. a new City. garder‘ on the site of the former Glasgc Qinal Maternity Hasnital: Poystori Road Parks ’;(;r";;let€: .'.’l';.", s x associated artists residenc es: 8‘. "ir‘g's Tolcoct.’ an exa” pie of a traditiona' pubic space updated {‘1'th renewed. a”) Edinburgh's Dance Base. which. as new as sehirg as a facility ert‘ploys links with exster‘g 'tgf)""r‘cr‘ :. aces' .'.“.':tr‘ ts design.
in attempting to r‘r'a'.'.'aken :Ja' ser‘se e" a ix rie arr: re a‘ to niake use and {)8 aware o‘ shared space as LU." as rice and a reality. this exhibitiOn more than achie‘.es ts aims
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Art
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" -‘:; 'THE LIST 89