Wsual Art
ReView coum‘m'cnmmm Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 14 Nov .00
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(Bregor Wright's controlled explosion ot angry little drawings take a risk. and dare to hint at a traditionally expressive line. minus irony. Hrs ‘.'./o."k is already heinu vr/atererl (town and has found its wa‘,’ into art sturlents' sketohhooks. Kate [Javrs wants you tr) sit for her on a stoolrr1tr'ont of her drawings, as she presents \’()ll With pre»errrpti‘.e sketches of you heint; l)l(lll‘.(?(l by her irriaornation. whereas Kevin lluteheson’s i.«'.ratert:ol(>ui‘s antl collages shot-r horeiloiri trlteretl through the illustrators flattening eye.
llatley lompkins' gouaches literally rettortl the edges of abstraction, r'eterentnnu Still we. Ti.'v.romhly_ A few of the tirawnus paintings are reductions rather thar‘ resolutions. hut her pages holtl together as a statement of sorts. Sue Torripknis' text l>aseu \.'./or‘k is equallt as tleetrrig, mar'r\,ing concrete poetrj. anti snippets of empty iritomiatron and conversation. The work is remrrirstfent of notes hv oertorrriarit‘e artists or Fluxus instructions. and mm, seem to he a hit
Siesta by Rosemarie Trockel
57"“
MIXl l) MHNA ROSEMARIE TROCKEL Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 31 Oct 0000
Throughout her career, Rosemarie Trockel has jumped between styles and media, an aspect of her practice that mirrors the slippery thematic concerns that run through her work. In Tramway 2, her drawings, paintings, photographs, video work and sculpture are hung to hug the walls — a simple, linear presentation that, with its stuffy, museum-like theming feels at first like a mismatch with the work, but later fosters connections between seemingly unrelated pieces. First, photographs — a hand pressed against a mirror, a portrait of a sleeping child; next come paintings - gouache abstracts that turn out to be high art revisions of rude doodles. So far, so puzzling, but walking the length of Tramway 2's long back wall reveals rhyme and reason. Two photographs of a smirking woman are paired with sketches of smirking poodles, but these are not contemporaneous works, and one of Trockel’s recurring themes reveals itself. It’s a daft joke, this matching of frizzy-haired woman and anthropomorphised poodle, but also a neat, quick comment on notions of female beauty, and one that illuminates those first photographs in the process. The following works, in a multiplicity of styles, move on to
tilt/w. rNt; AM i shit ALEX FROST - Changing Room, Stirling, until Sat 30 Oct 0000
Continuous Profile (Scarlet) by Alex Frost
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another concern. Male artists are listed, an apparently simple statement that nonetheless defies easy interpretation while a cluster of drawings runs the gamut from pointillism to newspaper cartooning, as Trockel cranks up the faux-naivete, placing herself within canonical art history. These works, tangled together, present ideas about femininity and sexuality, or about the place of women in art, in the form of non- committal hints. This could be frustrating, but instead Trockel seems generous in her muddying of the waters, her consistent ambiguity.
This to and fro of questioning and hinting is strongest in Trockel’s best known works, her painting machine and knitted paintings. The former contraption drags brushes across a canvas, each tipped with the hair of a noted contemporary artist — enough to raise a smirk, if not a laugh, and typically layered, covering the commodification of artworks and touching on traditional distinctions between ‘male‘ and 'female‘ practice all in one deft sight gag. The knitted canvases serve a similar purpose, and once again encapsulate Trockel’s light touch, one that can incorporate dense layers of meaning, without becoming some didactic lesson in feminist interpretation, while, perhaps above all, emphasising the artist as a maker of beautiful things. (Jack Mottram)
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‘IOO THE LIST 7—2‘: Oct 200-1