Festival
{VISUAL ART} LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL
HITLIST JOHN BYRNE A major exhibition of paintings, drawings and etchings as well as illustrations from a children’s book, to coincide with the launch of the Paisley artist and playwright’s biography. ■ Open Eye Gallery, 557 1020, until 5 Sep, free.
L A V I T S E F
Hiroshi Sugimoto Twenty-six large- scale works from the renowned photographer’s latest series. See Artbeat, right. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 624 6200, until 25 Sep, £7 (£5). Robert Rauschenberg Showcase of works by the late lamented American pioneer of re-imagined urban arcana. Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Gardens, 248 2971, until 2 Oct, free.
Tony Cragg Wonderful exhibition that charts celebrated sculptor Cragg’s artistic trajectory from giddy sketches to iconic final works. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 624 6200, until 6 Nov, £7 (£5).
Tamsyn Challenger: 400 Women Canongate Venture provides a suitably atmospheric backdrop to this powerful artistic memorial to victims of gender violence. Canongate Venture, 07870 935442, until 4 Sep (not Mon), free.
76 THE LIST 18–25 Aug 2011
Ingrid Calame Beautiful and baffling works Elizabeth Blackadder A major
based on the marks and blemishes sustained by the urban landscape from the American artist in her first solo show in Scotland. Fruitmarket Gallery, 225 2383, until 9 Oct, free. retrospective of work by one of this nation’s most popular artists, including watercolours, paintings and drawings. Scottish National Gallery, 624 6200, until 2 Jan, £8 (£6).
David Mach: Precious Light Powerful exhibition of sculptures and collages that celebrates and parodies the King James Bible in its 400th anniversary year. City Art Centre, 529 3993, until 16 Oct, £5 (£3).
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ARTBeat HIROSHI SUGIMOTO
Hiroshi Sugimoto talks to Miriam Sturdee about his EAF exhibition Is this your first visit to Edinburgh? I did pass through here once in the late 90s. I was shooting seascapes around the Scottish coast. Which wasn’t so successful: mostly, I saw many oil towers, so I couldn’t get clear seascapes. Are your lightning pictures [inspired by 19th century photographer, Henry Fox Talbot] as much a scientific experiment as art? Well, science and art have the same origin. So I am going back to the origin, like a Renaissance time, and Talbot was in the middle of this period of science and art. So, this study of static electricity that Talbot was involved in . . . I decided to keep it up. How do you see yourself in relation to Fox Talbot? He is my most influential figure. The lightning field practice is partially learned from Talbot’s study of electricity with Michael Faraday. I didn’t know that he was a serious scientist, I just knew Talbot as the inventor of photography. But he was also scientist, an anthropologist, a philosopher, a mathematician . . . What are you working on at the moment? Besides photography, I am working with architects. I established my own architecture firm so I have just finished one museum building in Japan, and one in Marrakech, and also a theatre production! This month in Japan I have a very big production at the national puppet theatre. I produced and designed the stage and composed the music. So the photography is less ‘now’. I keep practising but my curiosities have so much expanded. ■ Hiroshi Sugimoto, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 624 6200, £7 (£5).