Visual Art
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With the Edinburgh Festival slowly burning
‘ENORMOUS TALENT STILL FLOWS FROM THE ART SCHOOL'
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self out, Alexander Kennedy
has a look at Glasgow and tells the capital what it’s been missing.
ith all eyes fixed on Edinburgh over the last
month or so. the galleries and tnuseums in
Glasgow have also been putting on a bit of a show. Some of the city's up and coming artists have pulled out all the stops and hit hard. while others have opted to try new things and take a few risks. The exhibition of watercolours and sketches by Frances Macdonald and J Herbert McNair at the Hunterian demonstrated that there is more to the ‘Spook School’ aesthetic than ‘Mockintosh‘ mugs and jewelry. with skeletal figures striking poses reminiscent of plates from occult grimoires. At GSA. architectural plans covering tnost of Mackintosh‘s career hang behind dark funereal curtains. avoiding the light and shining forth into the darkness. Even though the streets and some of the galleries are haunted by the ghost of Mackintosh during this centennial celebration. Glasgow is not dead.
Two other GSA students have returned to the studios just off the Mackintosh Gallery. showing new work that moves agitatedly back and forth between the abstract and the figurative. Billy Teasdale‘s After the Deluge comprises sculptures and a small painting. The work examines the relationship between art and leisure. public display in public parks (the modern day equivalent of the Roman gymnasium) and the ‘care of the self'. A male figure tries to dominate the central space. he is neither heroic nor idealized. just a boy on a plinth surrounded by part objects and visitors. Jane Topping‘s drawings. paintings and sculptures use snippets of conversation and empty words and symbols to create works that are expertly
52 THE LIST 24 Aug—T Sep 2006
composed and installed. Again. figurative elements are fragmented and freed from their original context: portraits are split into bits of face. Both artists are Glasgow based and demonstrate the enormous wealth of talent that still flows from the Art School's celebrated (and over-photographedl halls. Down the hill at the Collins Gallery. ‘Laplanders‘ Hugh Pi/ey. Tommy Grace. Kate Owens and Patrick Macklin exhibit their wares. We are told that "The Four will explore food and longing. parity and safekeeping. memo and myth. flower and power.’
Elsewhere in the city. Keith Coventry takes over the large exhibition space at the Tramway. The show brings together his abstract and narrative paintings. paeans to modernism‘s excesses. successes and failures. with his Albany. White Abstracts and Ifstute series being brought together for the first time with new works that have never been exhibited previously. Upstairs in the Project Room. HUH' to [)0 ll’ltite. the title of the exhibition. is an experiment conducted by Coventry. and Glasgow‘s Lisa Gallagher. Fiona Jardine and Hannah Hewetson. The artists examine the relationship between fine art and fashion. surface and substance. and have created paintings and installation elements that reference each other's work. lambasting the myth of originality.
Paintings - Keith Coventry, Tramway, Glasgow, until 17 Sep. Jane Topping and Billy Teasdale, Glasgow School of Art, until 15 Sep. Doves and Dreams, Hunterian Gallery, Glasgow, until 18 Nov. The Four, Collins Gallery, Glasgow, until 23 Sep.
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THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
* Doves and Dreams This exhibition brings together work by two of ‘The Four' who formed a group with Margaret Macdonald and Charlies Rennie Mackintosh. The exhibition looks at McNair and Frances Macdonald's watercolours. graphics, furniture and metalwork, the pieces they created while in Scotland as well as the lesser known works they made in Liverpool. Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, until 18 Nov, £3 (£2). See image, page 54.
* Jane Topplng and Billy Teasdale An exhibition of work by two graduates from Glasgow School of An, asked to return to the School to show us what they've been up to. Topping has recently shown work in GoMA, which received enormous critical praise. Teasdale has shown at the Tramway and been working on a large sculptural project for the last year. See preview. left. The Glasgow School of Art, until Fri 75 Sep.
* Alex Pollard Pollard recently exhibited at the 2005 Venice Biennale. showing work that simultaneously conceals and exposes the process of its own making, letting the materials he used cover their tracks through artistry. This new series of sculptures continues his examination of the relationship between measurement. the simplified human figure and the reduced animal form. Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow. until Sat 2 Sep.
It Marcel Breuer - Designs and Architecture A major retrospective of the Bauhaus graduate and Master's highly influential furniture designs and maquettes. The exhibition shows how his early designs drew on and developed the ideas of his teachers, before going on to be a major player in the International Style. creating internationally significant buildings. The Lighthouse. Glasgow, until 27 Aug.