www.list.co.uk/visualart
REVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY GERARD BYRNE: IMAGES OR SHADOWS OF DIVINE THINGS The Common Guild, Glasgow, until 26 Jun ●●●●●
Gerard Byrne’s exhibition appears to be a straight show of framed black and white photography. However, Images or shadows of divine things is only nominally an exhibition of photographs. Byrne uses photography as a conduit to express a series of highly complex ideas. Also known as a filmmaker, this exhibition continues the exploration of historical, theoretical and philosophical interests that infuse Byrne’s work.
The photographs depict various vernacular subjects: the streets of urban America; fluorescent advertising signage; the filling of a fast-food order. Many shots chime with images taken by photographic greats such as Robert Frank or Lee Friedlander, while the blunt, deadpan nature of some recall Walker Evans or Ed Ruscha. These ambiguous photographs could have been taken at any time in the last sixty years. In fact, all the images have been shot since 2005.
Through reference to Jonathan Edwards, an 18th-century American theologian, by way of ‘Art and Objecthood’, Michael Fried’s influential essay on minimalism (another sustained interest of Byrne’s), Byrne creates a connection between the concept of the photographic ‘document’, appearance and time. It is possible to just enjoy the photographs, but this multi-layered work repays an invested viewing. Don’t be put off by Byrne’s refreshingly and unashamedly intellectually complex work – the viewer can always choose how far to delve. (Liz Shannon)
Visual Art
REVIEW GENRE JOHAN GRIMONPREZ Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 11 July ●●●●●
By concluding his 60-minute history of airplane hijackings with a slow-motion sequence of explosive crash landings set to the saccharine tones of Van McCoy’s ‘The Hustle’, Grimonprez delivers a sickly final blow. This film essay, ‘dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y’ (1997), is difficult, not only because of its sophisticated literary, cultural, political and historical splicing, but also because of its churning contemporaneity. Grimonprez is gifted with the incredible ability to source the present from the past. From humour to disgust, this film toys with the range of emotions that the moving image can effortlessly elicit, and what appears at first to be a study of skyjackers transpires to be an exploration of the recent history of mainstream media and its power to accommodate the games of global politics.
Presenting two central motifs of Grimonprez’s practice – documentary footage and contemporary film – the artist’s 1997 work becomes a coda for the reading of the other works on show, and in particular, recent feature ‘Double Take’ (2009). Inspired by a Jorge Luis
Borges short, its narrative is written by novelist Tom McCarthy and takes as its main subjects the Cold War and Alfred Hitchcock. Entering into a complex interplay of doubling and opposites, and zapping rapidly between past, present and fiction, Grimonprez chronicles the escalating tension between the USA and USSR during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Just as ‘dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y’ unnervingly foreshadows the events of 9/11, later work ‘Double Take’ addresses the adversarial politics that continue to exist post-9/11 and most notably, the regression of political debate into fear management. The display of Grimonprez’s earlier works, including
video work ‘Kobarweng or Where is Your Helicopter’ (1992) and a multichannel installation from 1994-2004, introduce intriguing debate. Again exhibiting an interest in doubles and opposites, with these two Papua New Guinea-set works Grimonprez turns his lens – or knife – to anthropological discourse.
That said, the presence of the feature-length works should not be allowed to sidetrack your attention, for this is a finely tailored exhibition, the resonance of which attests to the strength of this important artist’s timely output. (Rosalie Doubal)
REVIEW GROUP SHOW THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY THERE University of Edinburgh Talbot Rice Gallery, until Sat 19 Jun ●●●●●
This group exhibition curated by MA students from Edinburgh College of Art brings together a selection of visual artists all exploring the concept of time as a non-linear process. Among the offerings is a film work by the Turner Prize-nominated Otolith Group titled Otolith II which examines the pressures of labour and the slum existence in India.
Interactive offerings come from Omar Zingaro Bhatia, with an excerpt from his family's tape cassette archive shelved next to a sound system. Visitors are invited to choose the soundtrack, alter the volume, or turn the sound off altogether.
David Raymond Conroy's pieces are both reportage and regret – his ancient artefact from a drained river bed and accompanying news story is placed alongside a tower of books from floor to ceiling which the artist owns but has never read. In contrast, the delicate textures of Ross Chisholm's paintings are as subtle as his fellow exhibitors are brash in their message.
They Do Things Differently There is novel both in having such a diverse
background among the curatorial collaborators and exhibiting artists, and also in the public nature of the planning stages. The result is a pleasing array of works which each beg to be examined closely to fit in with the exhibition’s main themes, and there is even the opportunity to create your own exhibition catalogue to accompany your favourite areas of interest. Well worth a visit. (Miriam Sturdee)
10-24 Jun 2010 THE LIST 97