VISUAL ART list.co.uk/visualart
HITLIST THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
✽ The Scottish Colourists Series: JD Fergusson The third and final of
the National Galleries of Scotland’s colourists exhibitions focuses on Leith-born Fergusson, with more than 100 works on display. See preview, page 128. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two, Edinburgh, until Sun 15 Jun.
✽ Jill Todd Photographic Award Work submitted for the award set up in memory
of young photographer Jill Todd, and dedicated to photographers who have recently graduated from Scottish institutions. See review, page 128. Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, until 2 Feb.
✽ Jerry Gretzinger: Jerry’s Map The first outing outside the US of Jerry
Gretzinger’s ever-expanding map of an imaginary world, which he’s been creating for more than 50 years. See preview, page 128. Summerhall, Edinburgh, until Fri 24 Jan.
✽ Henry Coombes and Carles
Congost: Man of the Year Exhibition taking its name from the Time magazine award explores rivalry, self-promotion and male domination in the art world. See review, page 130. CCA, Glasgow, until Sun 26 Jan.
✽ Louise Bourgeois: A Woman Without Secrets & I Give Everything
Away Two major shows explore the hugely significant French-American artist’s output. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, until Sun 18 May; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 23 Feb.
✽ Ever/ Present/ Past Projects by Mark Dion and Claire Barclay marking the end
of a year-long programme commemorating the bicentenary of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, until Fri 15 Feb.
12 Dec 2013–23 Jan 2014 THE LIST 127
THE DARK WOULD Art and poetry intertwine in Summerhall’s new exhibition ‘E verything needs to die in order to
Davenport. ‘I turned 50 recently and I had a strong sense of time flowing by me,’ he says, ‘but this exhibition isn’t just about my getting older – it’s about the world changing for all of us. The computer, microbiology and the collapsing ecology are revolutionising our lives, and we need new ways to express this future, this “would”.’
Scotland, he says, is the perfect place for the show. ‘There’s a tradition here of radical poetry that stems from people like Ian Hamilton Finlay – a tradition that this exhibition is very much in debt to,’ he says. ‘In fact, we have a great work from IHF’s son Alec Finlay in the show.’ (David Pollock) Summerhall, Edinburgh, until Fri 24 Jan.
change, and that goes for poetry too,’ says Philip Davenport, the curator of this exhibition exploring language and art.
‘In the UK, poetry has been politely withering away, stuck in the early 20th century. Maybe an exhibition about death and rebirth is a good place to kick-start the rebirth of poetry.’ All of t he work in the show is based around language, including work by poets and text artists such as Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Caroline Bergvall, Ron Silliman and Richard Long, and late greats including Joseph Beuys and Stéphane Mallarmé.
The Dark Would, he says, is a reference to Dante’s ‘dark wood, a mid-life crisis on his way to hell’. It holds a personal resonance for