www.list.co.uk/visualart Visual
N4 'i" T C'JPATED CHOW
KEITH FARQUHAR Embassy, Edinburgh, until Sun 18 Nov 000
Blurring the me between CuratiOh arid creation, this new show by Edrnburgh artist Keith Carriuhar eXists — as the artist "truceif states e to sewe as
71/; writ/fluent”) for the NOW 0‘ He??? .'/1;,:.',',r; and Keith Haring.
Trirquhar has recreated, in laser-cut ,‘fly!, the hand-drawn lines O.‘ a piece of Hriririg's basketball court graffiti from drug-flooded 19803 New York, and a religious rhiiral from Matisse's defining Chapelle du Saint-Marie du Rosaire. a three-year proiect the artist corripleted in 1951 On the French Riviera. The former adorns the central motto ‘Crack is Wack' with SCrearnirig figures and tortured souls strung up by the ankles amid a brllowrng haze of crack smoke; in the latter, a faceless Virgin Mary presents her child amidst billownig clouds. displayed on the same pure white ceramic tiles as the Matisse original.
Although these ViSions of hellish driig suffering and heavenly religious perfection are drawn from utterly opposrte ends of the human experience. Farquhar seems to conflate both artist's stylistic approaches and emphaases the
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sense of transcendence evidenced in - encroaches on the territory of its exposed inhabitants. ! both works. The lines of each are I The danger of such a continuum of effect is that, like i simple. almost cartoon—like. yet they SCULPTURAL INS-{ALLA} lON a house of mirrors, it relies too heavily on the trompe i reveal easily recognised archetypes. ; SMITH/STEWART: ENTER LOVE AND I'oeil; the mechanistic production of spectacle. lndOOrs and now freed from the i ENTER DEATH Smith/Stewart cut into this charged gallery space with originals surrounding context, these Royal Botanic Gardens, lnverleith House. Edinburgh, a small, framed Polaroid of a head bound by swathes of j (:0uld be seen pale third-hand 2 until Sun 20 Jan .000 clothes and material. This photographic image works | imitations, yet surrounding images of ' 7 N ‘ 7‘ ' v “ ' ' " ' as a nexus to tether notions of threat, pleasure and the works in their original locations ; Simply entering Smith/Stewart’s new exhibition is violence to ideas of sex, intimacy and the sphere of the reinforces Farguhar's exhortation to difficult. Faced directly with a black horizontal girder, home. see these seminal artworks for one feels tempted to advance, yet hesitant. A key motif in this exhibition, the act of blindfolding, i yourself. (DaVid Pollock) ‘ Significantly, this initial anxiety is surpassed by a deep embodies the allure and excitement of surrender. The 7 sense of pleasure, for to venture underneath the stark infrastructure of this house determines that only the l
sculptural set-up, is to discover that you have been bodies of other onlookers are seen, and, as the winter
} totally, deceived. nights draw in and the light becomes scarce, the l
' The artists have installed a network of intersecting interior is obscured. Whilst these motifs prove to be l
I eye-level wooden beams, which dissect six rooms of teasingly sexual, a heavier thematic is initiated with the
l lnverleith House, thus eagerly inviting a prolonged introduction of the personal photograph. The darkness l
contemplation of the space. The works recast the spreads through the house like a fated, unwelcome
rooms into those of a doll’s house, theatrical yet guest. Death determines the inhabitants of this home, Q
stifling. The uniform and brutal nature of these and it is terrifyingly seductive.
sculptural set-ups produces an overwhelming sense of Drawing on the energies of Eros and Thanatos, l
totality, and a consideration of the house as one Smith/Stewart present a considered transformation of f
continuous organism is unavoidable. The walls appear lnverleith House into a stage for the tumultuous
to dissolve and the negative space of each room unravelling of domestic power-plays. (Rosalie Doubal) i
HOW INSTALLATION -' RADIA ' ' 7 I 'Chartres Cathedral
Various locations, Glasgow city centre, Fri 23-Sun 25 Nov ‘3‘
As the nights draw in, Glasgow City COunCil is flooding the dark skies With light, filling the streets with large-scale light installations by some of the most Successful international artists who work in this field.
Part of Winterfest. Radiance 07 brings together a host of installation artists for three days in November to create commiSSioned works throughout the City centre that use light as their medium. Artists include Xavrer de Richemont, who wrll transtim Glasgow Cathedral into an animated light mural portraying the city's past. Richemont has preViously brought the facade of Chartres Cathedral to life. by saturating the masonry with gaudy swathes of Technicolor. UVA Will also bring their ‘Triptych', a work previously exhibited at Paris' Nurt Blanche. to the City Chambers on John Street. where viewers can interact With motion-sensmve monoliths. Samantha Clark will attempt to bring the outSide into the Q! Gallery. by exhibiting straIOCumulus formations in her ‘Cloud Chamber'. where viewers wrll mill arOund with their heads in the clouds.
The interactive theme continues throughotit the rest of the contributors works. in the Guerrilla Lighting team‘s assault on buildings around the city centre. for example. The group carries lighting equipment on their backs. transforming burldings and dark corners With warm pools of rich colOur. iAlexander Kennedy:
I www. winterfestg/asgow. com/whatson/radiance
15—29 Nov 2007 THE LIST 80