{VISUAL ART} Reviews
JOHN BYRNE: MOONLIGHT AND MUSIC Major exhibition of works by much- loved Scottish artist ●●●●●
So recent are some of the pieces in this show – timed to coincide with the launch of a biography of the artist by Lund Humphries – that self-portrait ‘Chop Suey’ and Byrne’s children’s book Donald & Benoit: A Story of a Cat and a Boy arrived close to the curtain call of the opening night. Minute mezzotints nestle among
larger creations such as ‘The Hunter’, which is macabre compared to the naïve charm of Donald and Benoit. ‘Patrick’ (Byrne’s oft-used pseudonym) makes an appearance here, with his larger-than-life reclining natives in the faux-naif style. Presiding over the larger of the two rooms is the unmistakable figure of Tilda Swinton, the biggest of the works on display and one of few not offered up for sale.
Byrne’s fascination with the self is well represented, his hirsute face seen
in varying guises, each one a rebirth or reimagining of the subject, an indication perhaps of the artist’s journey through his own psychology, or perhaps just a readily available and well-known subject to render immortal through oils or ink. These pieces contrast heavily with the delicate ink and pencil of the Donald and Benoit illustrations which are almost an exhibition unto themselves: some remain mounted and lean against the wall by the Open Eye reception desk, daring the more adventurous viewer to rake through.
While almost everything here is available to buy there is no sense that the exhibition is merely a vessel for sales. Byrne’s love of painting is the obvious theme and there’s an atmosphere of excitement and inspiration around the work. (Miriam Sturdee) ■ Open Eye Gallery, 557 1020, until 5 Sep (not Sun), free. See also Artbeat, page 59.
L A V I T S E F
Edinburgh Art Festival events can be found
Listings for on page 138
60 THE LIST 25 Aug–22 Sep 2011
MYSTICS OR RATIONALISTS? Elegant conceptual works bend associations of the ordinary ●●●●●
Stealing the show, Susan Hiller’s new levitation works are exemplary of the conceit at the heart of this group exhibition. Having infused conceptual and minimalist strategies with the influence of psychoanalysis and pop culture since the late 1960s, Hiller’s explorations into the idea of transformation here materialise into two black and whites of floating figures. These graceful works pay homage to Yves Klein’s seminal avant-garde photograph ‘Into the Void’, and simultaneously, the phantasmagorical legacy of Modernist artworks. Similarly drawing reference from an artist of times past, this exhibition takes its lead from the opening statement of Sol LeWitt’s defining text, in which he states that conceptual artists jump to conclusions that logic could not achieve, that they are ‘mystics rather than rationalists’.
A simple light bulb emanating the pale light of the moon, Katie Paterson’s inclusion conceals a wealth of thinking and scrutiny. She’s created enough of these bulbs – which work by transmitting identical
wavelengths of those to moonlight – to span the average human lifetime. Similarly considered, Simon Starling’s slide show documents his performance ‘Autoxylopyrocycloboros’ (2006), in which he sailed a steamboat on Loch Long, fuelling its fire with the boat’s own timbers, until it could no longer float. Comparably spotlighting shifts in the ordinary, Iran do
Espirito Santo’s elegant ceramics toy with changes in scale and material. Likewise, upon further scrutiny, Susan Collis’ arrangement of seemingly scrap materials reveals itself to be fashioned from rosewood, ebony veneer, mother of pearl and 24-carat gold. Further conversions come from Cornelia Parker with ‘The Collected Death of Images’ (1996), in which a beaten, spectral, sheet of silver has been styled from the remnant particles following the process of ‘fixing’ an image with photographic chemicals. Are not only mystics or rationalists at work here, but
alchemists too? Led by Hiller’s consummate works, the gentle emphasis upon transformations in this show provides an interesting departure for many of these now-familiar works. (Rosalie Doubal) ■ Ingleby Gallery, 556 4441, until 24 Oct, free.
RICHARD DEMARCO AND JOSEPH BEUYS An art world friendship under a Scottish sky ●●●●●
A single rose can make a garden; a single friend can make a world. Writer, artist and philosopher Richard Demarco’s friendship with the humanistic artist Joseph Beuys was something special. These two passionate, occasionally obtuse men were drawn to each other like moths to light. ‘When shall we meet again?’ Demarco would ask of Beuys on parting. ‘When the hurly burly’s done, when the battle’s fought and won,’ Beuys would reply, revealing his knowledge of the Scottish play. Anyone who has the privilege of being allowed to visit Demarco’s archive at Skate Raw can witness the mountains of Beuys in Scotland-related ephemera Demarco has collated and here he allows some of it into a more public arena alongside some of his own sketches and paintings. It makes for a suitably Celtic juxtaposition. Demarco’s lovely sketches and paintings of Scottish and
Italian landscapes (with their hints of the righteous influences of Piper and Chagall) link Beuys’ best-known work in Scotland – the Celtic Kinloch Rannoch: The Scottish Symphony – with the Road of Meikle Seggie, the route that Christians, Romans and Demarco’s forbears used to travel to Scotland which also passed through Beuys’ home town Kleve. But let’s not get into the anthroposophy of it all; this is Demarco’s art alongside photographs of Beuys at work and play. It’s a conceptual love letter to a master too long in the ground. (Paul Dale) ■ Axolotl Gallery, 557 1460, until 5 Sep (not Sun), free.