VISUAL ART | Previews & Reviews
PAINTING REVIEW NORMAN KIRKHAM RGI RGI Kelly Gallery, until Sat 31 May ●●●●●
A painter can find fascination in all manner of things: pigeons taking flight from a tenement roof; the sleek skin of an aubergine; the peculiar qualities of winter light in Glasgow. All these and more are investigated by RGI veteran Norman Kirkham. He graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1958,
when the school produced (as all of Scotland’s art schools did) good, traditional painters working within recognised genres. Kirkham’s painting continues to follow that structure: these works are mainly still lives and landscapes, though there is a surprising group study of a pub on match day (Half Time at Heraghty’s), and a single, vivid self-portrait. Brass Kettle and Lilies recalls Cadell or Peploe
in illuminating objects against a dark backdrop with deft brushstrokes. The studies of leeks, aubergines and prawns are vibrant with life. But it is in his landscapes that Kirkham becomes most expressive. Glasgow Under Snow encapsulates the city in brown buildings and pink sky; Ailsa Craig is bold, almost abstract, dark sea and sky separated by a bright band of colour; and Welcome to 1st January captures the explosion of fireworks against a dark sky. Kirkham’s works may be products of long experience, but they have no shortage of flair. (Susan Mansfield)
106 THE LIST 15 May–12 Jun 2014
INSTALLATION PREVIEW NATHAN COLEY: THE LAMP OF SACRIFICE, 286 PLACES OF WORSHIP, EDINBURGH Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 1 Feb, 2015
Faith, and the lack of it, is everywhere in Nathan Coley’s work. For his contribution to Generation, GoMA has chosen to restage The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh, for which Coley built miniature cardboard models of every church, synagogue, mosque and temple in Scotland’s capital, then placed them side by side in a kind of deconsecrated village.
‘It’s always nice meeting an old friend you haven’t spoken to for many years,’ Coley says of The Lamp of Sacrifice, which has lain in storage for the past decade, since it was first shown at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. ‘I’m feeling excited about it being in Glasgow, and I’m interested in how it transfers to the west coast, even though the metaphor will remain the same.’
The Lamp of Sacrifice takes its title from John Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture, in which he stated that ‘it is not the church we want, but the sacrifice’. ‘Ruskin looked at what he saw as the differences between
buildings and architecture,’ Coley explains, ‘in that buildings are purely functional, but architecture has meaning in some way. So the pyramids are architecture for how they were made rather than what they look like. The fact that four generations of slaves built them gives them their meaning. By sacrificing my time and my labour to build these things out of cardboard, which is a material with no value, these places of worship become mine.’ The thread running through Coley’s work is plain to see. ‘All the works are exactly the same thing,’ he says. ‘Is that discussion about faith and religion because I was born and bred in Glasgow? I can’t deny that, but as a child I was aware of the divide. I don’t have faith in any religion. They’re all as bad as each other.’ (Neil Cooper)
ENVIRONMENTAL ART PREVIEW JUPITER ARTLAND Wilkieston, near Edinburgh, from Sat 17 May One of Scotland’s best art-viewing days out returns to the fray this summer. Operating from May until September only, Jupiter Artland comprises a range of 30 outdoor and environmental works over the 100- acre grounds of Bonnington House, sited to the west of Edinburgh. Ian Hamilton Finlay, Antony Gormley, Charles Jencks, Anish Kapoor and Jim Lambie are among the artists who have pieces on permanent display, while this year’s programme sees new temporary and permanent works being introduced. ‘Our initial May opening programme includes an internal piece called STROKE by Anya Gallaccio,’ says co-owner Nicky Wilson, ‘which is a beautiful engulfing of the walls of a gallery in dark chocolate. There’s a new text piece by Nathan Coley called You imagine what you desire, which will be retained as a permanent exhibit after July, and Silvy Weatherall will present a wonderful show inspired by her collection of stuffed animals, bones and feathers.’ A second tranche will be unveiled in July as part of Generation and the Edinburgh Art Festival, including Katie Paterson’s musical piece Earth-Moon-Earth, Mick Peter’s Popcorn Plaza, the daily raising and deconstructing of a barn-style house by Tessa Lynch and her team, and sculptures by Edinburgh’s Jessica Harrison. (David Pollock)
DRAWING REVIEW RICHARD FORSTER: MODERN Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 21 Jun ●●●●● At first glance these are photographs, innocent documentary works in a sharp, cobalt monochrome that suggests a fascination with 20th century modernism as viewed through the prism of the realist photo-essayist. There are buildings everywhere: high-rises; the White House on the day of Obama’s inauguration; the old Berlin People’s Palace. The effect is to suggest a compelling interest in the visual fabric of history, in the detail that exists amid the strata of cities as they develop. It might come as a surprise to find that these are in fact drawings, painstakingly recreated from Forster’s collection of found and self-sourced images. While this fact doesn’t dull the architectural fascination, it means the works become more about the act of recreating the real itself, with the relatively casual pleasure of photography replaced by a dedication bordering on fanaticism. The games Forster plays are also compelling, whether that’s drawing a ‘zooming’ series from the detail of a single picture or recreating an imagined landscape sculpture from a procession of photographs taken from the window of the same train in the same location, day after day. (David Pollock)
I
T S T R A E H T D N A D N A L T R A R E T P U J Y S E T R U O C
I
,
I
R E T N U H H T E K Y B Y H P A R G O T O H P