Festival Visual Art
THE ENLIGHTENMENTS Artistic reactions to the cult of rationality
This exhibition isn’t a homage to the art of the 18th century, and it doesn’t offer a single rational view of what ‘enlightenment’ might mean. The catalogue promises ‘contemporary observations on subjects including religion, philosophy, superstition, architecture, literature, natural history, the cosmos, skepticism, stoicism and social manners’. It sounds like the world in a grain of sand.
Joseph Kosuth’s installation (●●●●●) is a good starting point. Classic Kosuth neon brings Nietzschian aphorisms on art into dialogue with tree-diagram doodles from Darwin’s sketchbooks. Science without art, Nietsche wrote, would be utterly unbearable, demanding that science be envisioned ‘under the optics of the artist’. Kosuth puts philosophy, art and science under those optics, and illuminates the different ways in which individuals express their worldviews. It’s a thought-provoking and historically engaged work.
The bulk of the exhibition is at the Dean Gallery, where the highlight is Nathan Coley’s ‘Beloved’ (●●●●●). A clump of knobbled tree-trunks painted in weather-resistant green paint recalls the Enlightenment fondness for the faux-idyll, rusticity sweetened by the knowledge that the natural world is safely under human control. Over at the Collective Gallery, Susan Norrie’s filmic concerns for the future of civilisation (●●●●●), though intriguing, offer less to engage with, while Juan Cruz’ succinct round-town Bluetooth tour (●●●●●) will provoke a mixed reaction: some will find his exploration of the internal conflict between rational and irrational self perceptive, others too reminiscent of the generic literary loser-hero to arouse strong feelings. (Lizzie Mitchell) ■ The Enlightenments, Dean Gallery, 624 6200, until 27 Sep, free; Juan Cruz, until 26 Sep, free (please see www.eif.co.uk for the Bluetooth locations); Susan Norrie, Collective Gallery, 220 1260, until 26 Sep (not Mon), free; Joseph Kosuth, Talbot Rice Gallery, 650 2210, until 26 Sep (not 31 Aug), free.
SCOTTISH PAINTINGS: OLD MASTERS TO CONTEMPORARY Great works undermined by staid, debilitating presentation ●●●●●
This closed and muted historical survey covers a span of around 400 years, from the dark, still-life ages of William Gow Ferguson in 1632, to the rarely exciting contemporary abstract paintings of Callum Innes. Chronicling Scottish variations on impressionism and expressionism, and presenting the influences of the colourists and the Glasgow Boys, this taut selection – which, incidentally includes only two female artists out of a selection of 15 – leaves you wanting. Sir Henry Raeburn’s late 18th century ‘Portrait of Mr George Abercromby’ takes
pride of place. Collapsed, greying and introspective, while the work is a fine depiction of the ageing gentlemen, it is undoubtedly the dourest image of this year’s Festival. Following Raeburn in this golden line are Sir David Wilkie, William Dyce, the pre-Raphaelite influenced William McTaggart, his Glasgow Boy comrade Joseph Crawhall and colourist-influenced artists Fergusson and Milne. Outliers to this lineage include Charles Oppenheimer, famous for his relationship to the Kirkcudbright landscape, Anne Redpath, distinguished for her still lifes, and the marvellous Joan Eardley, marked by her interest in poverty and youth. The inclusion of a semi-sculptural fibreglass Boyle Family relief from the late 1970s ‘World Series’ is a real treat, although the deliberate and provocative nature of its inclusion here truly grates. These are incredible works, so why couch them in such a staid and debilitating narrative? (Rosalie Doubal) ■ Bourne Fine Art, 557 4050, until 5 Sep (not Sun), free.
104 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 27 Aug–10 Sep 2009
JOHN BELLANY: A CELTIC VOYAGE Cramped but impressive selection of works by the Scottish artist ●●●●●
Scottish painter John Bellany’s East Coast hometown of Port Seton, a small seafaring community where fishing was a way of life and Calvinism blew fear through the streets, informs the artist’s oeuvre. Fish, gannets, swans, playing cards and boats populate his colourful paintings: a series of symbols that comprise a wrought and vital personal iconography. Rooted in place, dream and experience, these repeated symbols nudge and jostle on his surfaces, and attend adoringly to the artist’s enduring interest in the sea, death and human desolation. While the paintings in this exhibition are in desperate need of some breathing
space – the gallery is cluttered by a group of distracting sculptures by other artists – the selection on show does succeed in demonstrating Bellany’s technical diversity and depth of subject matter. Angst-ridden paintings from the 1960s are juxtaposed with his later, less tumultuous works, and the presence of his masterful 1987 diptych, ‘A Long Night’s Journey Into Day’, lifts this collection. Depicting a bedded or coffined couple surrounded by the provocative toys and tricks that reside over Bellany’s works, and swathed by the arching sail of fishing boat The Bethlehem Star, this dark and powerful painting stands sentry for all that Bellany’s practice has laid bare. A selection of works completed this year creates a new layer of interest to the
artist’s seething collection. Watercolours and drawings such as ‘Little Temptress’, ‘Fisherlass’, ‘Herring Queen’ and ‘Woman of the North Sea’, depict simple female forms and Bellany’s symbolic fish. Condensing previously explored traits of femaleness, these simple and suggestive works attest to the strength of Bellany’s continued practice. (Rosalie Doubal) ■ Open Eye Gallery, 557 1020, until 1 Sep (not Sun), free.