Visual Art
THE PAINTINGS RETAIN SOMETHING OF WARHOL'S DETACHMENT
Cars and Housofl
\
p“ pelSOHHIIflSSOC....nS
Rosie Lesso creates an imaginative ma
as she considers the work of painter Alan Michael
ike many artists before him. :\Ian Michael‘s first L point of reference is the sea of visual information
we cncottnler as by-products of contemporary living. .-\nd. like many contemporary artists. he avoids painting in any one particular style. Instead. he makes paintings which reference ‘high' and 'Iow" sources as diverse as the new BMW mini. Robert Ratischenberg. films by .lean Iitistache and .Iean I-uc (iodard along with personal encounters based on Glasgow city life. where he \IlltIICtI LIIILI llo\\ \y‘ol'ks.
Michael's paintings retain something of Warhol's detachment. ‘Someone once said to me. "Why would you put something you‘re interested in into your work?" and I kind of agree with that.. Yet. his art is also an attempt to take everyday pastiche or quotation beyond pop art banality and postmodern coolness.
The artist is willing to tell as in reference to the
works display ed here at Talbot Rice that ‘paintings of
the angular modernist detailing in a restaurant interior share the space with street \iew's and text paintings announcing fugitive titles and car models‘. Yet. by way of encouraging an imaginatiye interpretation of this imagery. Morton deliberately gives us no direct explanations. Meanwhile. Jean Eustache‘s film ‘The Mother and the \Vhore'. which explores ideas around sex without love. runs in the round room. With all this information thrown our way it is tip to the viewer to create a convoluted map of associations as opposed to a direct uninterrupted dialogue with a singular working method. Schizophrenic it may be. but. given that we are so often force-fed answers there is a curious pleasure in this potentially futile unravelling.
94 THE LIST 3‘ cat‘s-‘4 598 L335
As expected. the paintings themselves range in style from light screenprints on canvas alongside densely worked photorealist paintings and flat text works. Yet. all are linked by a process of layering. The text works. 'It‘s a British Sound‘ and ‘It‘s Positive' are composed
of white letters on a blue background. but the edges of
the paintings seem to reveal processes of indecision. where traces of green or orange paint underneath the final colour are just visible. ‘Grassroots/ Bottles' has more internal complexity which makes it stand out,
being composed of photorealist bottles sitting in front
of unusual. diagonally drifted lettering. But the dominance is of recent screen prints. each one remarkably similar in style. made up of slightly overlapping rectangles repeating the same abstracted motif in varying colours and densities. The two strongest and most complex of these both reference the exhibition title. ‘Touch Void': ‘Touched Void'. located downstairs. explores varying green hues. while upstairs we find the black and white ‘Void Touched'.
Michael's overt repetition in the silkscreens nullifies the romance of possible associations with the imagery, which is perhaps deliberate. but. after the first few they seem to lose their potency. In spite of this. as expected from an artist reaching the peak of his career with recent solo shows in Los Angeles. Berlin and Cologne. we are presented with a rigorous programme which seeks out questions and complexities. not straightforward solutions.
Alan Michael: Touch Void, Talbot Rice, Edinburgh, until Sat 1 Mar oooo
flit
IHE BEST EXHIBITIONS
7/; ’///'”b
.’//’// ”///,‘
' ./ // ’ . ’(I/Q/xfl/i
* Collage cm An unassuming and intelligent exhibition of work that examines urban fragmentation and collage. Examples from the last 60 years. exploring the idea of dystopia. utopia. tailed urban landscapes and Modernist visions are brought together. The exhibition includes work by Max Beckman, Chad McCail. Toby Paterson and Eduardo Paolozzi. Dean Gallery. Edinburgh, until Sun 24 Feb.
>l< Alon Mlchaol: Touch Vold A new collection of works by the artist. examining how text and image can be rendered in various styles. In refusing to work in any one particular style or medium, Michael critiques the idea of artist as brand name. using images of the new BMW Mini and appropriating works by Robert Rauschenberg with equal enthusiasm. See review, left. Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, until Sat 1 Mar.
=l< Carol Rhodes A retrospective of work by the Bengal-born, Glasgow-based painter. Rhodes’ landscapes are constructed out of various sources. maps and aerial photographs, creating constructed scenes that manage to invoke environmental issues and ideas surrounding the body and how it is represented, by treating the ground as surface. skin and the foundation of torrnalist investigations. SNGMA. Edinburgh, until Sun 24 Feb.
at: Kendall Koppe/Douglas Holland In this two-person show. Koppe and Morland attempt to represent the unrepresentable. The show brings together paintings, sculpture and photography in order to examine how psychical energies. both mental and ‘occult’, have been examined by quacks and doctors alike. See review. page 95. lntermedia, CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 2 Feb.