THE WORK IS SERIOUS - AND MOST OF IT IS SERIOUSLY GOOD
Alexander Kennedy strays from the beaten track and discovers some hidden cultural gems at Glasgow’s studio warehouse
way from the fallow lield of (ilasgow‘s King
Street. Mtttley at the Warehouse Studios has
turned tlte pl'e\'iotls guerrilla home of ('omme des (iarcons into a gallery -— an irregular space at the hottont of a crooked alley that is showcasing an impressiye bttt loose group of recently graduated art school students. The work on show includes photography. drawing. sculpture and painting. all espertly installed in the post—industrial space. (‘olour is kept to a minimum llater exhibitions with graffiti artists will ntore than make up for it). so the work on show at first seems cool and only superlicially serious. ()n closer e\amination. this prejudice is thwarted. The work is serious and most of it is seriously good.
(iyl Rae's sculptures use concealed colour to great effect »- warm. soft pastel tones glow from behind the long rectilinear forms that lean against the wall. colouring the surface with pink. yellow and blue clouds. The shapes deconstruct l-‘lay'in‘s 'Monument for V Tatlin‘. bttl Rae's use of light pttlls the plug on his bombast and theoretically kicks oyer Serra’s hulking one ton prop pieces. The photographs by Rebekka l'nrau on the lacing wall also subtly and humorously reference big names in art history. llokttsai‘s waye is reduced to the corner of a kicked
up carpet. with crumpled paper acting as the crest of
the breaking waye. Another photograph in her ‘lnnerspace (Bedroomi' series. a tower of books. holds tip the caves of a house. Words are used to support ideas. forms. or is it the other way about?
The master of hermetic modernism also makes his presence felt in the work of Julie-Ann Delaney. Her
tiles. sketches and wall drawings spread otit from one of the corners of the gallery — a nod to Maley'ich's installation at the "Tramway ()-l()' exhibition of l9l3 « and fill it with her version of Suprematism. A version of Maley'ich's 'Blaek Square' is present in the krusnyi ago] (the “Holy (‘orner‘l as the new geometric lace of a dead modernist god. More regularised forms can be found in the work of Martin Nelson. in his perfectly constructed wooden homage to Gottfried Leibniz. The floor around his sculptures has been turned into a blueprint. with a pttddle of electric blue powdered paint tised as the ground for the forms to rise tip from. A more restrained use of colour can be found in Ross Hamilton Frew‘s ‘Boredom Patterns 1- 3'. l-‘rew removes the signifying potential of Cy 'l‘wombly‘s forms. turning his line into dashes and swirls that escape the early hand-painted pop trajectory of Twomhly's canvases. The three paintings rest on the ground. emphasising their ‘ohjectness'. and inyoke the crayon and coloured pencil forays into mark making that one finds on the walls of children's bedrooms.
Glasgow is very quiet during the month of August. As attention shifts to Edinburgh‘s Art Festival. gallerists freshly returned from the ‘hard sell' at mainland Europe's festivals take a deep breath before pushing on into the autumn. In the middle of this hiatus. the occasional artist-run space. such as this. produces some unassuming but great work.
Now I Know my ABCs, Studio Warehouse, Glasgow, until Fri 3 Aug 0000
Visual Art
THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
it I - - “I!!-
Now I Know My ABC: A confident first exhibition in a new space outSide the City centre. of work by recently graduated artists from Scotland's art schools and colleges. Work on show continues the perennial fascination with modernism and its undoung. See review. opposite. +44 747 @ Studio Warehouse. Glasgow. until Thu 3 Aug.
Roderick Buchanan - Histrionics A series of works by Glasgow-based artist Roderick Buchanan, examining the city's sectarian dwide. Buchanan uses photography and film to demonstrate the similarities between both sides. using his own personal histOry as a way of understanding the long history of hate. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 28 Oct.
David Rokeby - Silicon Remembers Carbon The Canadian-born installation artist brings a collection of interactive works together to create his first major Scottish show and retrospective at the CCA. Work on show includes the pioneering sound installation ‘Very Nervous System’, and his exploration of CCTV and surrveliance ‘Seen' and ‘Taken'. CCA, Glasgow, Sat 4 Aug—Sat 15 Sep.
Alexandre Perlgot - Plpedreams The first in a series of four linked exhibitions. ‘Pipedream' continues Perigot’s fascination with physically immersing the viewer in a visually and aurally powerful site. forcing us to reassess our passive relationship with star making and spectacle. The artist has installed a life-sized version of Elvis' home Graceland in the cavernous space. Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 5 Aug.
7—9 Aug 207' THE LIST 39