Visual Art
POSTERS HANDMADE The Lighthouse, Glasgow, until Thu 7 Sep «00
Handtooled production is not immediately associated with advertising posters in our digital, branded world. This exhibition from the Zurich Museum of Design
turns that idea on its head with striking images. from i A4 to bus-shelter size. utilising a myriad of processes: 3 potato print. woodblock. photocopying. letterpress. As Claude Lichtenstein writes in the catalogue. the i designers inhabit a ‘world in-between' the analogue and the digital, creating primarily on paper, not a computer screen with its ultimately empty pixels. Bastien Aubry's simple red and green proclamation ’Anti Style' says it all.
So much for the No Logo ethos. but the aesthetic the artists employ really works. Poster artists have always had to be sophisticated to get their message across, but high gloss doesn't necessarily mean high impact. These designers exploit their fascination with old techniques and production values vary delightfully: an inky partial fingerprint in a corner; a photo of a handpainted cardboard advert for a film night propped up in an electrical shop; deliberately badly spaced letters; thick black stencilling on Japanese newsprint. They play with the boundaries of reality: red brick wall patterns. letters made out of parcel tape or a pavement with wet footprints raised to the vertical.
Some of these images are not advertising anything at all, but express clear political statements. while others give us an insight into the social life of the subculture. This exhibition will delight and inspire : g . ; . graphic design students, and. for the rest of us cynics. ” . — demonstrate that individuality can still get the message across. (Ailsa Boyd)
PAINTING. PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO. INSTALLATION
drawing classes. It is unclear exactly what the YOUNG ATHEN'ANS . . comment/private joke here is; is this poking fun at .35.. The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until Sun , , , , , g. the tradition of life drawmg in the college? Or l.» 12 Nov mo . , c . perhaps it creates an insmcere claim to fame, for Both Edinburgh College of Art and The Embassy both the city and the college? Gallery link the 17 or so artists in this eclectic The show continues into a fresher white space, exhibition. In the first, dark wood panelled, dimly revealing greater play and diversity. John Mullen lit room, a curious, uncomfortable atmosphere and Lee 0’ Connor’s large Scots slang print ‘Semi ensues. A number of the artworks hang in gaudy Schemi Minus & Semi Schemi Plus’ is a crude gilt frames from a picture rail, seemingly deriding computer collage mixing up the facial features of the neighbouring National Gallery’s respectful each artist, thereby rendering themselves into
tradition. Jenny Hogarth and Kim Coleman’s video crimewatch-esque constructions, creating two ‘The Gentle Shepherd’ (pictured), is projected into fictional anti-heroes for the city. Katie Orton’s ‘For a gilt frame, the exhibiting artists posing as mock the Foyer’ is straightforward yet compelling; a
Greek heroes in togas and sandals, some rolling convincing marble font is created from folded cigarettes, others playing the guitar. It is cardboard and fablon, so what should be solid and voyeuristic and narcissistic, revealing a permanent is flimsy and perishable.
supposedly close dynamic between the group. But This exhibition is conceptually considered
the play-acting is uncomfortable and ham-fisted - enough to bind the artists without being either too could it also be a facade? Alistair Fairweather’s obvious or obscure. It is often difficult, irritating deadpan, banal ‘Life Study of Sean Connery’ and uncomfortable yet fresh and challenging, the (1952) has been borrowed and redisplayed from artists collectively capable of both poking fun at the Edinburgh Art College’s archive - the once and paying homage to the tradition of the Scottish broke actor used to make money posing for life capital. (Rosie Lesso)
PERFORMANCE. VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY CEZARY BODZIANOWSKI Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, Sat 28 Oct-Sat 25 Nov
Take Off
Cezary Bodzianowski returns to Glasgow from his native Poland to exhibit works made in the city for his solo show. Although a relative stranger to the UK he previously exhibited in 2005 alongside Sue Tompkins and Sophie Macpherson in Sorcha Dallas' off site contribution to Glasgow's Festival of Light. Back again. the performance artist is sure to put a smile on your face.
His work is characterised by subtle interventions — he unexpectedly disrupts the norms of everyday life. usually involving unsuspecting members of the public with humorous results. These interventions are documented by his wife. Monika Chojnicka. and it is this documentation that he presents. effectively blurring the boundaries of performance, documentation and the artist. For this show he is planning to exhibit both video and photographic records of his exploits in the city, site specific works made for the gallery.
Bodzianowski is one of Poland's most prominent artists but his name is little known in the UK. Until 1989 Polish art was rarely seen in Western Europe. and today post-communist art still doesn't fair well in Britain. So it is not surprising that taken out of context his work might at first appear as a collection of strange one liners. But his work has a deep social sensibility. haunted by the ghosts of Socialist Realism. This is an important exhibition, but whether this is recognised
it at the time remains to be seen. (Steven Cairns)
94 THE LIST 2—16 Nov 2006