Art
ARI FAIR
GLASGOW ART FAIR George Square, Glasgow, Thu 15—Sun 18 Apr
Art fairs is essential to any gallery in terms of profile raising and finding new audiences. For the buyer or browser, they offer a diverse range of art all under one roof. Since its inception in 1996, Glasgow Art Fair has made brave attempts to introduce new twists to the art fair format and this year is no exception.
The new contemporary pavilion, Extension, which was introduced last year to showcase the more cutting—edge end of the contemporary art market, is back with nine organisations including Glasgow Sculpture Studios, the Collective Gallery and artist-run organisations such as EmergeD, the Embassy and Volume.
But new for this year is the Print Studio of Scotland, a collaborative venture between Edinburgh Printmakers, Dundee Contemporary Arts and Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen. Each organisation will showcase four or five key works by artists including Anya Gallaccio, Martin Boyce, Rosalind Nashashibi, Alan Davie, Peter Lynch and Toby Paterson, together with print
PHOIOGRAPHY THOMAS JOSHUA COOPER
lngleby Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 8 May 00..
When I inten'iewed Thomas Joshua Cooper recently he
Left to right: Work by Anya Gallaccio, Peter Lynch and Toby Paterson
browsers revealing the extensive selection of work going on at these studios.
‘There’s a fantastic camaraderie between the organisations,’ explains David Watt from Edinburgh Printmakers. ‘The great thing about it is that we are realising that we are stronger working together than working against each other individually.’
And this is just the start of a beautiful relationship and a much wider remit. With all the print studios working with many artists who are already represented on an international circuit, there is a
as part of the Print Studio of Scotland
desire to market Scottish printmaking internationally. Along with the Glasgow Print Studio, the organisations were successful in their application for funding aimed at a collaborative practice. The Glasgow Art Fair will help to test the market, but the long term aim is to attend the Basel Art Fair in two years’ time.
‘Basel is where we want to be,’ says Watt. ‘We think that because we are all working with a range of cutting edge Scottish artists, we can be there and if we do it collectively, then we can definitely be there.’ (Helen Monaghan)
said: ‘! want to make a body of work that's so beautiful that when you see it you hurt inside' Dramatic as it may sound. Cooper's black and white photographs are so beautiful that they spark off such an emotional response.
Late l/i/inter Light — The Source of the River North Esk Rushing from Loch Lee captures the gentle ripples and ebb and flow of the river evoking a set se of quite contemplation. In The Source Stream of the River Forth Spill/rig into Loch Chen. the force of nature is reduced to elegant lines ren‘iniscent of shards of light through trees. P/otting the River — Rhinefa/ls -'~' I From the Left Bank of the Rhine River is full of energy. the rush of a \.:‘~./aterfall fro/en in time.
For ever (it) years Cooper has travelled the globe. pinpointed locations. tracked them down and then photographed them using an antique field camera. He is an expert in his chosen medium with each silver gelatin print hand toned and printed to dramatic effect. His photographs are not merely studies of the land. nor are they so concerned Wllll a sense of place. Each image has its own entotional pull, whether is it a feeling of excitement. delight or sadness. which makes Vievring a very meditative and affecting experience. lHeIen Monaghani
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Plotting the River - Rhinefalls #1 From the Left Bank of the Rhine River
94 THE LIST j"! A; 1/
Beverley Hood’s 30 characters
MUI TIMEDIA BEVERLEY HOOD: DOPPELGANGER Street Level, Glasgow, until Sat 8 May 0..
This is the first major Scottish show by Edinburgh-based artist Beverley Hood. yet it draws in large part upon her experience during a residency in Basel. Switzerland two years ago. Using digital imaging and 3D character modelling software. Hood has made an attempt to capture the essence and personality of herself and her colleagues of the time in a testing mix of traditional portraiture and the hard. blocky forms of the technological media involved.
What we are presented with, then. are seven life-size. full- body inkiet prints of various people. together with smaller prints set against a hand-drawn environment. This locale also serves as the backdrop to an explorable computer lant‘lscape. where we are invited to find the characters' (‘lwellings and discover more about them. Most telling, though. are a series of nude self-portraits — despite showing a trace of improvement in the actual success of the digital model. Hood's features and proportions are markedly different throughout.
It's all a mildly engaging diversion, but the whole series has very much the feel of a work in progress. Despite the hours Hood has obviously spent moulding and sculpting these pixellated figures. you get the impression that they‘ll never really exist as characters until technology catches up with the concept. (David Pollock)
MIXED MEDIA
1 78TH ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2004 Royal Scottish Academy Building, Edinburgh, until Thu 20 May .0.
Visiting the annual Royal Scottish Academy show is an enjoyable amble past paintings. SCulpture. printmaking and architecture of varying degrees of talent and aesthetic pleasure. However. trying to recount all these images is like viewing y0ur memory on fast fOrward or being a contestant on The Generation Game with the belt on hyper mode. Yes I remember the obvious; the surreal, the abstract. the impressionistic. the grand architectural designs and the bronze figures and the glass Spheres. but all the images have merged into one huge canvas to Create a visual frenzy of colour and images. with an incoherent narrative. The mediocre and the uninspiring are Quickly forgotten as personal fav0urites come to dominate what you remember.
A Song for You by Michael Visocchi
Peter Howson's magnificent Last Supper completely overshadows the art hanging around it. so powerful and accomplished is the artistry. Vigil Series by Beth Fisher is another painting that stands out. taking the viewer on a visceral journey around the torso that lends itself towards Da Vincrs intricate studies of the body. One wall in the gallery. which is packed with small paintings. is an arresting display of images that range from a Scotch pie to a clown to a fat man. Because they are all arranged together they are not swallowed up by larger paintings. Another small painting which stands Out is Michael Durning's Toonhei‘d G/esga which is a great little grainy snapshot of the Glasgow skyline with steeples and tenements dominating the skyline.
As always there is a good mixture of style but not enough to grab the imagination this year.
(Isabella Weir)