VisualArt OUTSIDE THE FESTIVALS
REVIEW GROUP SHOW KAREN CUNNINGHAM AND ZARA IDELSON: EARLY RELATIVITY The Duchy, Glasgow, until Sat 3 Sep ●●●●●
Glasgow School of Art graduate Zara Idelson here shows paintings and interventions alongside the work of Glasgow-based Karen Cunningham. Cunningham’s work initiates a dialogue with
historically significant artworks. They nod to their canonical forefathers and then subvert – often sacrilegiously – through form and material. ‘Culture or Idealised Participation’ is a large cube constructed from industrial plywood and is reminiscent of Donald Judd’s sleek forms made with humble materials. Materiality was central to his work, and here Cunningham has used the prevailing element of fire to destroy a corner of the wooden cube, revealing the skeleton of the structure.
A found object with uncanny resemblances to Marcel Duchamp’s bottlerack has been photographed
in low resolution, the pixelated quality appearing painterly alongside Zara Idelson’s oils and acrylics.
Idelson works economically with her materials and paints on small scale canvasses, but her confident mark making is clearly that of an artist beginning to establish her voice within the often contested discipline. It is rare to see an artist’s unashamed need to talk through paint, conscientiously enjoying the materiality of the medium.
She has also made subtle interventions to the surrounding space in an attempt to establish a framework on which to hook her painterly sentences. Incorporating the architectural features, the zig- zagging lines of her wall panels make links to other works including Cunningham’s primitive-inspired mask.
Though Cunningham’s work is rooted in the historical artefacts of autonomous art, her aim is to communicate with her viewer, and you sense the same intention from Idelson. (Talitha Kotzé)
REVIEW DRAWINGS & COLLAGE PEACE AT LAST! Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 16 Oct ●●●●●
This small collection of works by Kate Davis is a response to the Glasgow Museums’ collection. The show focuses both on political history with feminist narratives and the archiving process mixed in with her own interventions. In the first room is the show’s title piece, an early 20th century postcard created at the height of the suffragette movement, which depicts a woman with a nail through her tongue. It reminds a modern audience that, while women have won the right to vote there is still inequality in our society. Supporting this allegorically, through images of characters in stifling sacks, are two Francisco de Goya prints, ‘Strange Folly (Disparate Ridiculo)’ and ‘People in Sacks’. In Room 3 this historical feminist narrative continues with the pamphlet
‘The Militant Methods of the NWSPU’ and Kate Davis’ reworking ‘Reversibility (Militant Methods)’. The pamphlet was published to detail the suffragettes’ need for militant approaches but has been badly defaced, as documented by Davis’ pencil and print poster. Through her photorealist style Davis beautifies the damage but also raises questions of when a political subject can be raised, if it is ever allowed to be raised at all. (Alistair Quietsch)
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HITLIST THE BEST EXHIBTIONS
British Art Show 7 It’s your last chance to catch the fantastic British Art Show 7 in Glasgow, which features work from Sarah Lucas, Charles Avery, Alasdair Gray and Luke Fowler as well as Turner Prize-nominated artist George Shaw whose work is pictured above. CCA, Gallery of Modern Art and Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 21 Aug.
Karen Cunningham & Zara Idelson: Early Relativity Glasgow School of Art graduate Zara Idelson shows paintings and interventions alongside the work of Glasgow- based Karen Cunningham. See review, left. The Duchy, Glasgow, until Sat 3 Sep.
4 4 2 The Recoat Gallery celebrates its fourth birthday with specially commissioned screenprints from the ten-strong Team Recoat. See picture caption, page 116. Recoat Gallery, Glasgow, until Sun 4 Sep.
Live Your Questions Now Survey show reacting to the art world’s obsessive youth fads, including work by over- 60s artists Colin McMahon and Sam Ainsley. Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, until Sat 1 Oct.
Breaking the Renaissance Code Emblem books, prints, drawings and paintings from Dürer, Rembrandt, Holbein and contemporary artists. Hunterian Gallery, Glasgow, until Tue 4 Oct.
Ruth Ewan: Brank & Heckle Images and sounds exploring the enduring relevance of the past. Dundee Contemporary Arts, until Sun 9 Oct. Peace at Last! Artist Kate Davis responds to works in the Glasgow Museums in this intelligents, thought-provoking show. See review, left. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 16 Oct.
18–25 Aug 2011 THE LIST 115