Visual Art
Blind Drawing I I (Gold) by Alex Frost ~‘ " :v
REVIEW SCULPTURE, FILM AND DRAWING GROUP SHOW: RUN ‘RUN’
The Collins Gallery, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, until Sat 3 May 000
There has always been an indubitable relationship between art and science. A charcoal mark made on a cave wall is the result of various scientific process and ‘laws’. Alex Frost and Sorcha Dallas attempt to examine this relationship through the idea of technology in the work of 13 local and international contemporary artists.
Due to the number of theoretical approaches and stylistic agendas, what we are presented with is a selection of work by a host of artists the curators admire. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s always difficult to force oneself to be parochial, but on the whole the work by the artists based in Glasgow or represented by Glasgow galleries stands out. This may be because the curators know their work best.
We have previously seen Torsten Lauschamann’s installed film piece ‘The Mathematician’ at Mary Mary, and his work currently on show at GoMA has far more to offer (more is always more when it comes to his
102 THE LIST 2/1 Apr—8 May 2008
work). Frost’s own offering are also excellent, both formally and conceptually. In his ‘Blind Drawings' we see how the cold process of pixilation can be sexed-up through a renaissance-like ‘sfumato’. His take on hand- painted pop is always seductive, evidenced in ‘Young Adult’, a packet of Ryvita rendered in Fimo, clay and paint.
The sparse yet deeply considered work of Mary Redmond is also a highlight (‘Grazing with the Sky Goer’): an abstract sculptural composition that comments on, while working against, gravity. This is a weighty sculpture, even though the bulk of it is constructed out of thin wire and fishing twine. Laura Aldridge’s pots (‘Holders’) are also of interest. They sit on the ground like enormous misshapen chestnuts; their ‘natural’ form emphasised by the houseplants that spew out of them.
There are a few pieces that are of little interest. They are the largest pieces, yet the easiest to ignore (Pae White and Richard Deacon’s work). You’d be better pondering the smaller, weirder pieces freed from the university archive that acted as inspiration for the show. (Alexander Kennedy)
REVIEW SCULPTURE. AND INSI‘AI LATION JIM LAMBIE: FOREVER CHANGES Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Mon 29 Sep 0000
REVIEW VIDEO. DRAWING AND INSTALLATION
ADEL ABDESSEMED: TRUST ME
The Common Guild, Glasgow until Sat 7 Jun 000
One of Adel Abdessemed's videos was rejected by the Gi's committee for this exhibition due to its excessive violence. This further cemented his reputation as an artist not afraid to take risks and cause controversy. Much of his work is concerned with how the body politic filters its way into life on the street. exposing uncomfortable truths along the way.
Projected onto a large wall is a video of singer DaVid lvloss acting out the part of the outsider trying desperately to fit in. Filmed against a backdrop of urban wasteland lvloss painfully shrieks a messy hybrid of national anthems from Germany. France. Algeria. Brazil. Britain and Russia. but what ensues is a comj')licz.ited. uncomfortable brawl.
‘ln Helikoptere' (2008). Abdessemed playfully hangs by his feet from a helicopter floating over sheets of plywood with a piece of charcoal. trying desperately but pointlessly to mark the wood. ‘Also sprach Allah' (2008) references Nie/che's atheist essay ‘Also sprach Zarathustra'. the artist being bounced up and down on an Arabian carpet while trying to write on the ceiling. seemingly revealing religious struggle and sacrifice. balancing politics and form more effectively than elsewhere.
(Rosie Lesso)
Lambie seems to be an ideal (:lioice for the Gallery of Modern Art’s contribution to the Glasgow International. particularly given his established international reputation yet loyalty to the culture of his home city of Glasgow. As with prevrous exhibitions we find on show a heady mix of thrifty junk shop art and punk music aesthetics. creating an engaging and accessible space.
This time round Lambie has been given free reign over the entire downstairs floor of the gallery. which he has covered with black and white Vlllyl tape in 'The Strokes' (2008). Spread out across the huge space and round the pillars it takes on a curious theatricality. Onto this floor a range of sculptures have been arranged including ‘Get Back' (2008). a mock cut section of a wall made from fabulously kitsch oriental fabric-covered bricks and pink grout. the whole wall balancing precariously on two pairs of gentlemanly slick black gloss-painted shoes.
Elsewhere, we see Lambie's characteristically sturdy use of sculptural form in 'Sonic Reducer" (2008). where a number of paper album covers in stacks have been sunk into asymmetrical concrete blocks and scattered randomly around the space. 'Warm Leatherette' (2008) has a similarly appealing j.)hysicality combined wrth humour and a heavy dose of punk attitude. The arms of a range of multicoloured leather jackets have been stitched together and padded out to create a freestanding multi-legged leather creature. but what should have become monstrous is instead strangely beautiful. Visiting this exhibition is an entertaining and Visceral experience, and the many musical and art historical references Lambie relies on are shrewdly concealed behind its playful spirit. (Rosie Lesso)