PIRATE, CRAGGY NEEDLES OF ISLAND COVERED IN WILDLIFE
THAT SNORTS AND FARTS
Ice ales
Artist SIMON FAITHFULL is journeying with the British Antarctic Survey to the cliffs of Antartica. Daily sketches drawn on a Palm-Pilot can be received by email and appear daily in the CCA. Here is an exclusive extract from his diary.
ri 26 Nov: Falkland Islands l-‘rom the air the
I'lalklands looks bleak. and heautil'ul in a lonely
sort ol‘ \y'ay. Since starting the journey from R;\I-‘ Bri/e Norton in ().\l'ordshire I hayc heen carried through Various military spaces. Ascension Island seems like it might haye heen iny'ented just to proy'ide the military yyith a pit stop. It's about as l’ar l'rom anything as its possihle to he. Waiting l'or rel'uelling. we had an hour looking out at the Volcanic landscape through the [ms of our cage and then ascended once more. leay'ing the tiny rock to disappear into the endless Atlantic \y'ttVCs.
Sun 28 Nov: Falkland Islands Who on earth would anyone l'ight oyer this...'.’ The lialklands is incredihl} CIIIPI} ' It looks like Scotland alter tlte homh. There are no trees c\cept the sad cony icts planted hy‘ the l‘eyy residents. Stanley only seems to exist through grim determination and l'leecing the cruise ships. In eyery direction along the water there are wooden or steel \yrecks sloyyly giying in to the weather and the hills are littered yyith hits ol‘ \yar machinery. I yyalked out ol' Stanley through an ice \\ ind and ey'entually reached the breathtakingly heautil'ul dunes and heaches ol‘ (iy'psy (me. The sand is hlindingly' white and the water is trayel-hroehure hlue hut eyeryyy'here there are earning signs shoyy ing a one legged man and the \yords ‘danger mines' - only the ohliy‘ious penguins enjoy the cold South .-\tlantic surl'.
Thu 2 Dec: Scotia Sea I loy'e being on the ship - so far we've been through two three ten storms. .-\.s the RSS lirnest Shackleton is built for forcing its \yay‘ through ice it means that it is lar less stahle in the sea. The boat goes through all sorts of strange motions as
paintings hang ol‘l' yyalls at 30 degrees. I \y as l'ilming one ol' these paintings yyhen an unexpected lunge sent liy'e people on arm chairs l'lying past me. to end tip on the lar side in a tangled heap ol heer and legs.
Sat 4 Dec: Signy Island Signy l‘elt like the last eonceiy‘ahle outpost ol' mankind - pirate. craggy needles ol‘ island coy'ct'cd in “end \y'ildlil'e that snorts and l'arts at you as though you ltay'c no right to he there - and in fact there hasn't been anyhody here (apart from scientists intermittently) since the \yhalers lel‘t a lllll years ago.
Alter a day deliyering supplies and looking at the elephant seals. \ye again hoard the incongruoust cheerl'ul red Shackleton. Bel‘ore reaching the ocean though we haye to thread our way through the most incredihle l‘ield ol icehergs. The colours look like someone has messed \yith the R68 settings in your eyes. They \ary in si/e l‘rom a small crol‘ter's cottage hohhing though the s\\ ell to huge slahs ol' South London housing estate eight stories high.
Mon 6 Dec: South Georgia South (ieorgia's mountains appeared and disappeared out ol hanks ol' mist and cloud - at times like a split screen montage ol‘ ocean and glaciers. .-\l'ter hundreds ol' miles ol' sea it looked like \y e had happened upon a u all ol‘ Alps l'loating ahoyc the \y'ayes. .\'osing its yyay out ol‘ the s\\ ell though in isting inlets. the Shackleton reached the ahandoned \yhaling station ot~ (iryty'iken - gltm ing i'tist- red beneath the black and ice of the jagged sky line.
Simon Faithfull’s Antarctica Dispatches, CCA, Glasgow, until Sun 16 Jan. www.5imonfaithfull.org/antarctica
Visual Art >l<
THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
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>§= l-lolbeln to Hockney - Drawings from the Royal Collection The Queen has a fair old selection of drawings in her collections, gathered over many hundreds of years. Cherry picking the best of the bunch to give a spread that highlights renaissance sketches, Dutch scribbles and modern day doodles. the curator has drawn together an impressive show. See review. Queen '3 Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 6 Mar
:2: Kate Davis Exciting new work from Glasgow School of Art graduate, including painting. drawing and sculpture, taking on the challenging white cube space that'II get your very human pulses racing. See review. Sorcha Dal/as, G/asgow. until Sat 22 Jan
=i< Cathy Wilkes Going out with a bang. Switchspace hosts this wonderful show by the tricky Glasgow artist, whose installations may elude definition and description but get under your skin and stay there. Switchspace, until Sat 78 Dec Di: Ellen Gallagher - Orbis New York artist who reiigures images taken from black American magazines with yellow plasticine, makes and scratches onto B movies, and carves into deep water-colour paper, painting delicate works in a series called “Watery Ecstatic'. The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh until Sun 73 Feb
* Ed Ruseha Keeping with the Yanks. this time from the west coast, Ruscha's small photographic books of gas stations and parking lots kick off the show with a modesty belied by later slick, cinematic images of landscapes overlaid with text. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, until Sun 16 Jan
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