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REVIEW MIXED MEDIA WHITNEY MCVEIGH: LANGUAGE OF MEMORY Summerhall, Edinburgh, until Wed 9 Mar ●●●●●
Language of Memory will affect you long after seeing it.Simple and stripped back, it comprises an extraordinary 11-minute short film ‘Birth’, a sound work and several sculptural compositions. The film, shot in a London hospice, features a
diverse group of women who each reflect on birth, life and existence. The interviews occasionally cut to a clip of a grand old tree swaying gently in the wind, its frayed branches at once beautifully elegant and fragile. It is humbling to hear the women speak with humility about their lives in the face of death: each does so with wisdom, and it is life-affirming to hear their accounts of bringing new life into the world as well as facing the prospect of leaving it themselves.
The other works in the exhibition are elevated by first experiencing ‘Birth’. McVeigh’s ‘markers of time’ are ready-mades that she has accumulated throughout her life. Objects that were once significant to someone – children’s shoes, photographs, books – are stripped of their sentimental value and we are urged instead to contemplate them philosophically. When viewed in conjunction with ‘Birth’, Language of Memory amounts to a powerful and unpretentious deliberation of the meaning of life. (Laura Campbell)
PREVIEW CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS RICHARD SLEE: WORK AND PLAY Tramway, Glasgow, Sat 6 Feb–Sun 20 Mar
The work of renowned ceramicist-cum- contemporary artist Richard Slee will grace a Glasgow gallery for the first time since 2009 with Work and Play. The artist, whose wry sculptural works draw obvious comparisons with Jeff Koons and Grayson Perry, has selected pieces from the last decade that examine key themes in his practice. The most recent pieces are those rendered partially in blown glass, such as ‘Stadium’ and ‘Net’, both of which were created in 2013. ‘The two main themes that emerged were work and play,’ explains Slee. ‘“Work” is represented in the show by pieces such as “Hammers” [a collection of over 100 different hammers with brightly glazed ceramic heads and wooden handles placed in an industrial bin as if just manufactured] and “Play” by works such as “Trophies” [nine ceramic emblematic shapes based on old carpet beaters mounted on black bakelite bases arranged to form themselves into a visual game and pun]. Most of the “Work”- associated objects are rendered futile.’
Though the works fall roughly into these two distinct conceptual categories, the show will not be arranged by subject or date; something the artist hopes will blur the boundaries between work and play. (Laura Campbell)
Previews & Reviews | VISUAL ART
REVIEW PAINTING MERLIN JAMES: LONG GAME CCA Glasgow, until Sat 13 Mar ●●●●●
Glasgow-based Merlin James is unusual in contemporary art circles in his unflinching commitment to the medium of paint, and unusual among painters in the way he is embraced by the contemporary art fraternity. His first major show in Scotland for more than a decade is a rare chance to see the broad range of his oeuvre, including a selection of works on paper and the small sculptures he calls ‘by-products’. Though the paintings here span 30 years, the
word ‘retrospective’ is unhelpful: James’ work is more cyclical than linear, returning, years later, to themes, motifs and often individual works. What is clear is that he is engaged with the ‘long game’ of painting, acknowledging its traditions and styles, while making his own way among them. There are landscapes, nudes, abstracts, here, even a wry nod, in ‘Painter (red)’, to the figure of the landscape painter, en plein air, palette in hand.
His eye picks out seemingly unremarkable things – a JCB, a luggage carousel, an oddly shaped house – and he uses colour or an unexpected angle to make the familiar seem unfamiliar. There are echoes of Peter Doig in his evocations of places never quite identified, moments left unexplained. He deconstructs the medium, cutting into the canvas, building out from it, or dispensing with it altogether and working on gauze stretched across the frame. Yet his commitment to the business of painting remains undiminished. (Susan Mansfield)
N A M D E E T S T R E B O R
REVIEW ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN GREY GARDENS Dundee Contemporary Arts, Sat 27 Feb–Sun 1 May ●●●●●
‘With Grey Gardens I wanted to see if it was possible to showcase concrete in a way that casts it in a much more positive light,’ says Graham Domke, curator at Dundee Contemporary Arts. ‘The exhibition addresses concrete art and architecture since the 1950s to the present day and focuses on several sites across Scotland alongside more exotic locations in Mexico and Italy.’ The show is part of this year’s nationwide Festival of Architecture, created with access to the archives at RIAS and Historic Environment Scotland. The exhibition features modernist houses by the
influential Morris and Steedman practice, as well as Peter Womersley’s Bernat Klein Studio in Galashiels among others. It also considers publicly sited town art in Glenrothes and Cumbernauld. ‘New Towns are much-maligned but I liked the utopian ideal that was pursued, if not always delivered upon,’ says Domke. Elsewhere you’ll see what he calls ‘the wilfully surreal concrete garden’ by the Scottish-born Edward James and Plutarco Gastelum sited in the Mexican jungle, photographed by Amanda Holmes, as well as work by Turner Prize-winner Martin Boyce, whose 2009 Venice Biennale show was influenced by the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. (David Pollock)
4 Feb–7 Apr 2016 THE LIST 91