ART & EXHIBITIONS LIST
I enter The Edinburgh Frultmarket Gallery’s iestlval exhibition, ‘The Minor and the Lamp’ and what do I see? Myselii Reflected in “Splegel” (Minor), the central piece in a sort oi triptych by Gerhard Richter. The other two works are “Zwel Kergen" (Tivo Candles) and “Schadel” (Skull) which aliect a curiously morbid religiosity: it is a strange altar at which to be invited to worship. I turn and see myselt glorious like a Walt Disney queen in gold lame ruIl In Giulio Paolini‘s “Empedocie”, the Image distorted only by the reflection oi a great plaster loot which, I now see, hangs wittily above me, making me laugh at my own vanity. Once more the pantomime stooge, I gaze at my lace In a small Venetian hand-minor, lavishly decanted, and irom the wall behind (the wide world) see reflections at extravagant drapery, on one side beautilul, on the other tattered, on one side gathered by a living woman’s arm, on the other by the arm oi a skeleton. Helen Chadwick's “Vanitas” perhaps has In it something oi Snow White or Cinderella in its obvious and lavish Imagery but like those tales it points the way to elemental truths about human experience which are common to us all. No wonder that in the mirror, we recognise ourselves and find something else besides: ior centuries, one oi the ways oi praising a work oi art has been to say that it was true to lite. We look ior our reliections In art, whether or not
town for the summer season. This exhibition looks at the reasons behind the success of Scottish enterprise abroad and at home. Audio-visual displays and a cinema will add to the display. Refreshment areas and shop will be open throughout the exhibition period. Charles Rennie Mackintosh Dates unconfirmed, but probably 10-30 Aug. Check with venue. Watercolours.
0 SALTIRE GALLERY 13 Atholl Crescent, 228 6621. Fringe Venue 145. Mon-Sat 10am—5pm.
Capricho Scozzese and Lorenzo Gallantini Sat 9LSat 30 Aug. Scottish scenes by a northern Italian artist who knows the country and its people intimately. Gallantini will be sketching in the gallery.
0 THE SCOTTISH ARTISTS SHOP 6 Howard Street, 556 6337. Fringe Venue 140. Festival hours Mon—Sat noon-5.30pm and 7—8.30pm, Sun 3—5.30pm.
Festival Memorial Exhibition- Archibald Sandeman1887-1941 Until Sat 30 Aug. Landscapes in watercolour. Also paintings by Margot Sandeman, his daughter, including still-life with Ian Hamilton Finlay.
0 SCOTTISH CRAFT CENTRE 140 Canongate, 556 8136. Mon—Sat 10am—5.30pm. A permanent showcase for the crafts of Scotland. Crossing the Border 7—30 Aug. Crafts from the North of England.
there is an actual mirror: art itseli is tie mirror, although we expect it to tell us more that the truth.
This idea is one part oi the theory described by M. H. Abrams In his seminal work, “The Mirror and the Lamp” lrom which this exhibition takes its title The mirror reilects the world; the lamp lilumines it. Art can be like either. The exhibition, in its diversity at styles and Images embraces Abrams’ theory but also moves beyond it. Abrams was writing speciiicaiiy about Romanticism, about that strange movement In which the sell became the interpreting body, the only really reliable source oi
0 THE SCOTTISH GALLERY 94 George Street, 225 5955. Mon—Fri 9am—5.30pm. Sat 9.30am—lpm. Contemporary Enamelling Fri 8 Aug—Wed 3 Sept. Enamelwork went into decline after an explosion during the Art Nouveau period and has only recently regained favour with artists. This exhibition shows
MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL
lniormatlon. This exhibition however, as is coyly suggested In the catalogue is “post-modemist” and when you come upon paintings with titles like, ‘The desert wind oi deconstruction has not touched a hair on my lrlend Julian’s head’ (one oi a series by David Selle), Abrams’ world ot the pathetic iallacy and the soul’s union with Nature seems tar away. The‘ exhibition seeks a more modern expression tor these well-established ideas: Paolini’s gold lame says the same as Wordsworth’s “bed at glittering light”.
In one piece however, the “Lamp” is used as a description oi the imagination and here it Is more recognisable as part at the speciiic tradition which Abrams described. This is “Ombres” (Shadows), an installation by Christian Bottanski in which light irom tiny spot-lamps (themselves insect-like creatures) illuminates a ring oi strange little iigures causing them to cast shadows onto the surrounding wall in wild and inlinitely changing patterns. The “Lamp” transiorms the figures just as the imagination changes that which it encounters, endowing it with beauty, honor, the iantastic, the dreadlul. This piece has a great potency because it demonstrates that which it also describes: it is a working model at its own idealism. in its light, dancing Iigures we see ambivalent images of lite and oi the grave In as natural and strange a way as we experience them sub-consciously irom day to day.
work by several contemporary jewellers including painted enamel by Wendy Ranshaw, plique-a-jour jewellery by Georgina Follet and cloisonné work byJane Short.
Bruce McLean Fri 8 Aug—Wed 3 Sept. Paintings, works on paper, prints, drawings and performance. The performance will be held at the
Fruitmarket Gallery on thurs 7 Aug at 10pm. £3.50 in advance from the Scottish Gallery.
0 THE SCOTTISH MINING MUSEUM Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, Midlothian, 663 7519. Tue-Fri 10am—4.30pm. Sat/Sun Noon—5pm.
A Day in the Liie ol a Coal Company Journey back to the early days of the colliery via a series of tableaux using artefacts and costumed models.
Prestongrange (between Prestonpans and Musselburgh) Tue—Fri 10am—4pm. Sat/Sun Noon-5pm. Visitor Centre, Historic Cornish Beam Engine and displays showing coal-mining through the ages.
0 SCOTTISH POETRY LIBRARY Tweeddale Court, 14 High Street, 557 2876. Fringe Venue 136. Daily 10am—7pm. A collection of poetry books, Gaelic, Scots and English as well as modern poetry from abroad. 0 SCOTTISH SKI CLUB 2 Howe Street. Fringe Venue 154. Mon-Sat 10am—7pm.
hlark iiult- Sun and Air Mon ll—Sat 23 Aug. Euphoric images from one of London’s young painter/printmakers.
0 SCOTTISH SPORTS COUNCIL McDonald Road Library, McDonald Road. Fringe Venue 156. Mon—Fri 9am—8.30pm, Sat 9am—1pm.
Scottish Sports Photographer ol the Year Until Fri 22 Aug. The very best in Scottish sports photography.
0 THE SHORE GALLERY 59 Bernard Street. 225 6753. Mon—Fri, 1 1am-4pm.
O STILLS GALLERY 105 High Street, 557 1140. Tue-Sat, 12.30—6pm.
A’ Gluasad Deaszhtoving South. Until Sat 30 Aug, Mon—Sat 10.30am—6pm. 2—13 Sept, Tue—Sat 12.30-6pm. A personal portrait in photographs of the Outer Hebrides by Murdo MacLeod. of a society caught ‘between tradition and the steady pressure for change emanating from the consumer culture ofmainland Britain— the South‘.
HERIOTS OEMARCATED
W ' - .I . If, V ‘ I, / .. ,. all
You cannot help but hear the clamour oi history when considering two exhibitions of sculpture to be presented by Richard Demarco at Herlot’s (Edinburgh) during the Festival. The work Is contemporary - Glasgow’s George Wylie paying tribute to Joseph Beuys (whose own work will be shown In Demarco’s Jellrey Sheet gallery at the same time) and
a selection Irom the G.L.C. sponsored exhibition, ‘Ilumanism in Contemporary British Sculpture’ which concludes its British tour in Edinburgh and consist oi about twenty works
by Eve Body. Alan Brazier, David Creegeen, Fenwick Lawson
and Simon Stringer
The setting is bound up with the past, this meeting oi the modern mode and a building which positiver bristles with historical significance and a certain anecdotal charm ls bound to be compelling.
SOThe List 8 — 21 August