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REVIEW TEXTUAL WORKS & PROJECTIONS ARTIST ROOMS: JENNY HOLZER – BLUE PURPLE TILT Talbot Rice Gallery, until Sat 15 May ●●●●●
Neon fly posting arrests the eye as you venture into Talbot Rice, the gritty and harrowing statements creating a sense of nervous expectation. The main room displays several of Holzer’s large-scale paintings depicting declassified US military documents. These resemble giant photocopies against softly graded oil backgrounds, but the faded texture of some of the documents adds to the authenticity of the source material. They are perhaps best viewed from above where you appreciate the scale of the operations. Holzer’s best-known body of work,
‘Truisms (1977-79)’, contains short statements such as ‘The desire to reproduce is a death wish’, originally distributed on T-shirts, posters and LED screens in New York much as modern marketing messages are. This particular piece really needs more than a passing glance to process the pithy power of the epithets.
The contrast between the text-heavy pieces and the painting-led work is well done, with the next room up the stairs returning to the abstract and minimalist via oil on linen in works such as ‘b.1 1.4 or b.7(q)’. Finally, a mesmerising balcony view of ‘Blue Purple Tilt’ caps off an interesting and often thought provoking collection that builds on Holzer’s earlier text-based work and leads the eyes on a merry downward dance as you endeavour to take everything in. (Miriam Sturdee)
Visual Art
REVIEW DRAWINGS, SCULPTURE & OBJECTS ARTIST ROOMS: JOSEPH BEUYS Hunterian Gallery, Glasgow, until Mon 27 Sep ●●●●●
This exhibition of work by postwar German artist Joseph Beuys features a selection from the ‘Braunkreuz’ series: drawings, the legendary fat chair, and his objects in vitrines. Beuys’ signatory mediums of felt, fat and copper, chosen for their insulating, transmitting and transformative properties, can be seen in these cases as artefacts intended to actively trespass environments reserved for precious objects. The works have a powerful effect at the Hunterian where they are not cubed in by pristine white walls.
The man himself, identified by his iconic self-made image of felt hat and fur-lined jacket, was fascinated by Celtic traditions and the profound social and political changes in Scotland in the 1970s. After his first staged ‘action’ in Edinburgh, ‘Celtic (Kinloch Rannoch) Scottish Symphony’ – performed daily for eight hours over a period of six consecutive days – he returned many times until his death in 1986.
shot down on the Crimean Front and crashed. Beuys’ disputed account of the event claimed he was rescued by nomadic Tartar tribesmen, who wrapped his body in animal fat and felt and nursed him back to health. Here a decent cross-section of his work reminds us
of his deep understanding of drawing: the painterly mark-making in juxtaposition with representational imagery, the confident graphic angles of collage, but above all with concept as key. Hidden in among a series of drawings hangs a piece with the scribble: ‘Walk only if you feel: your walk starts revolution’. Braunkreuz (‘brown cross’) is the name given to a
muddy red brown, mixed by Beuys to achieve a unique hue. The colour in itself suggests dried blood, earth and excrement, evoking a visceral power in addition to the imagery it conveys. He fills the area around a pencil drawing of two women with this colour. Entitled ‘Witches spitting fire’, their hands are tied behind their backs as they spit fire with an unstoppable force of nature. His use of colour as sculpture and objects as drawing
His legacy of Social Sculpture, perhaps now a bit overplayed, stems from a deeply personal conviction: while flying for the Luftwaffe in WWII, his plane was
medium, creates metaphors but also enables the mythologising of a ritual and, no doubt, of the artist’s persona. (Talitha Kotzé)
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REVIEW GROUP SHOW SPRING EXHIBITION 2010 Axolotl, Edinburgh, until Sat 1 May ●●●●●
Edinburgh’s newest gallery’s spring exhibition presents an outstanding selection of work by Scottish-based artists as well as one or two pieces from future exhibitors that contrast and complement their neighbours. The show encompasses a range of work, from photography and painting, to ceramics and sculptural resin, which lends it an air of surprise and variety.
Michael Wildman’s ‘Crouching Woman’ series (inspired by Rodin’s piece of the same name) depicts nude models within areas of the Scottish landscape, accompanied by text written by the models. This use of text widens the gaze to include the process with the result that the viewer is brought closer to the works. Wildman’s series is playfully placed next door to the unnerving paintings and giclee prints by Hendry, which depict bare and carnivalesque figures in varying states of mental undress.
Elsewhere, the large scale ceramics by Philomena Pretsell are nicely
complemented by Jillox’s stand out plaster piece ‘Hare Creature’, and lead the visitor calmly into a back room filled with contemporary Sarah Wilson’s relics set in resin. The overwhelming impression is a cohesive group show where attention is evenly dispersed amongst the exhibitors, and with the promise of more to come Axolotl can be sure of a continued audience for its carefully chosen showcases. (Miriam Sturdee)
15–29 Apr 2010 THE LIST 89