VISUAL ART | Previews & Reviews
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PAINTING JOAN EARDLEY: A SENSE OF PLACE Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two, Edinburgh, until Sun 21 May ●●●●●
Joan Eardley’s too-young death of cancer at the age of 42 in 1963 has wrapped a kind of tragic envelope around her life and work. Coming nine years after a major retrospective of her work at the Scottish National Gallery – the only two such exhibitions in nearly 30 years – this new show incorporates the twin subjects which really made her name and reputation: the poverty-stricken post- war children living in Glasgow’s Townhead district, which was later razed to make way for the M8 motorway; and the tranquil but violent North Sea land and seascapes of the small fishing village of Catterline, near Stonehaven. The exhibition literature makes links between the crumbling destitution of Townhead, where Eardley held a studio, and the sense of decline in the fishing industry while she lived in Catterline, and these enforce a tragic narrative alongside the facts of her biography (her own death as well as her father's suicide in 1929). Yet to see the work in person shouldn’t make viewers think of tragedy. Her paintings of Townhead’s children bear an almost spectral quality with their pale faces standing out, but they’re anything but unfriendly.
If anything, there’s an innocence to Eardley’s group portraits that’s at odds with the grimy black and white reference photos which she and her friend Audrey Walker took, and which are also displayed here. An angelic, questioning innocence is captured in these stylised, cartoonish expressions, set against a grey uniformity of the real.
In the village of Catterline, on the other hand, the natural tableaux she captured were fearsome and elemental, as bold swathes of blue, green, brown and white spoke of that landscape’s rawness. In each case, the strength of Joan Eardley’s connection with her subjects is humbling to the viewer. (David Pollock)
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RETROSPECTIVE ALAN KITCHING: A LIFE IN LETTERPRESS The Lighthouse, Glasgow, until Sun 5 Mar ●●●●●
For six decades, the typographical work of Darlington-born Alan Kitching has blazed a quiet trail that’s given printed matter a visual identity which has defined its various times. To coincide with the publication of a lavishly illustrated 400-page monograph by John L Walters, this retrospective charts how a trainee compositor went on to create a canon that moved from Jan Tschichold-inspired modernist experiments to explosively reinventing letterpress while the rest of the world went digital. Kitching’s work has consistently channeled the
vibrancy of its age, even before he combined skewed poetics and monochrome classicism for his poster advertising a screening of Peter Watkins’ film, The War Game, at Watford College of Technology. It was during his tenure here that he learned as much as he taught en route to producing a seminal manifesto, Typography Manual (1970), which the bursts of colour that define his later letterpress work all stem from. In between is a breathtaking panoply of broadsides,
maps and polemic, all fired with the same dazzling and forensically crafted force. The result is a vital document that illustrates a very British form of DIY radicalism it remains a part of, turning words and worlds upside down as it goes. (Neil Cooper)
92 THE LIST 1 Feb–31 Mar 2017
GROUP SHOW FORMS OF ACTION CCA, Glasgow, until Sun 12 Mar
‘For me there is no distinction between art and life.’ It‘s a view many artists in Glasgow will no doubt share with Viviana Checchia, the CCA’s public engagement curator. ‘It’s not about the when, where and what, but about how we approach society through art,’ she says, regarding Forms of Action. Glasgow has long been heralded as a place where
artists are free to explore the boundaries of art, and much is made of the city’s prevalent ‘DIY culture’. But for once, it isn’t Glasgow-based artists who are the focus of a socially-engaged group show.
While Forms of Action brings artists together from all corners of the globe, it’s clear that shared issues arise: in our globalised world, it’s not sufficient to look at problems only within our own society. This exhibition is an opportunity to see the different methodologies and tools used by artists seeking to make meaningful connections within their societies. A no-doubt turbulent 2017 is a good time for
artists to declare their position as socially engaged practitioners. ‘Individually, we are not going to change anything huge, and we aren’t going to stop a war by ourselves,’ says Checchia. ‘But individual contributions can help society take a little step. I still think it’s important to keep on going.’ (Laura Campbell)
INSTALLATION CLAIRE BARCLAY: YIELD POINT Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 10 Feb–Sun 9 Apr
Claire Barclay thinks big. As we speak in her studio, three people manhandle a huge piece of canvas. When you take on Tramway 2 (one of the largest gallery spaces in Europe) you have to think big. ‘It’s by far the biggest volume of space I’ve ever
worked with,’ says Barclay. ‘You make a thing and, even if it’s big, you place it in the space and it looks small. As a person who makes installations, creates immersive environments and moods, the challenge is how to do that when the space is so huge.’
In the last 20 years, Barclay has carved out an
evocative niche as a creator of meticulous sculptural works which respond to their environments. For this show, she’s been casting concrete, sewing huge canvas forms, and working with manufacturers to create bespoke metal parts. Barclay is responding to Tramway’s post-industrial
vibe with a series of sculptures which reference manufacturing, but juxtapose the industrial with the human scale.
‘The work is an eccentric take on things that would be familiar within a factory environment, mundane elements which might be overlooked. So something might remind you of a drivebelt, a sink, a stick to put bobbins on, but none of them really are. They are curious eccentric objects.’ (Susan Mansfield)