Calum Colvin
The Glasgow-born, Dundee- trained artist is famous for his humorous photo-montages, often featuring iconic figures (Action Man; Botticelli’s Venus) and tricksy trompe /’oei/s. The complex, densely coloured works in his new, digitally generated show, Pseudo/ogica Fantastica, have a marked flavour of psychedelia. Though there’s still a spirit of fun about Colvin’s work, the subject matter has taken a turn for the darker: a series called ’Mundus Subterraneus’ (named after a book by 17th century Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher) is dominated by red-splattered, post-apocalyptic cityscapes with childish objects scattered as if abandoned in a moment of panic. Partly inspired by a holiday 36-year-old Colvin spent on the Costa Brava, these images represent the inferno of seedy Spanish nightclubs. By contrast, the central image in his untitled series of trippy triptychs - melted and warped in a homage to Dali — is of a beach mobbed with lobster-skinned sun-worshippers. Wish you were there?
Pseudo/ogica Fantastica (Fringe) Calum Colvin, Portfolio Gallery (Venue 24) 220 7977, until 30 Aug, Mon—Sat 70am—5pm, free. See Festival Art, page 97.
Q
Babybird
One of the acts appearing at Flux, the Fringe’s new mini-festival of music, Babybird fly to Edinburgh this week hoping to improve on earlier visits. Last time they were here, frontman and songwriter Stephen Jones had an injured foot and was forced to stay seated throughout the show. The previous time, they had a rocky ride on the main stage at Hogmanay. ’There was a bit of a nasty element chucking cans and what have you,’ says Jones. No stranger to Edinburgh, Sheffield-born Jones was formerly in Iolved in a theatre company, and has vague recollections of performing ’in a gallery somewhere’ on the Fringe. ’I try to forget about that, but I think it’s helped me feel natural onstage,’ says Jones, who was an avid Fringe-goer in his time. ’I used to go up and see as much as I could when I was younger. I like a lot of the comedy stuff . Jerry Sadowitz is one act he’ll try to catch when he’s here. As for his own show, ’l’m on two feet so it’ll be a lot better,’ he promises. (Andrew Burnet)
Babybird play Flux (Fringe) Jaffa Cake (Venue 7) 557 6969, 76 Aug, 8pm, £70.50. Flux runs 72—79 Aug.
Sharing a name with the boffin who designed James Bond’s lethal toys might be coincidental, but Q is definitely an ingenious man. His debut novel
Deadmeat — the tale of a young, inner-city lad and his involvement in club culture - can be described as multi-media in at least two ways. Written in a variety of streetwise styles, including raps and song lyrics, it was originally created in 1991 in four parts — black cover, white cover, audiotape and videotape — as a way of increasing its appeal to a clubby readership. London-based Q produced and published the whole thing himself, then sold it from the back of his car, which he repainted as an advertisement on wheels. Now Deadmeat is available in handy paperback format, and Q is appearing at the Book Festival to read from it and answer your questions. Just don’t ask him about the booby-trapped cigarette lighter.
0 (Book Festival) Charlotte Square, 220 3997, 76 Aug, 8. 75pm, £4 (£2).
J Deadmeat is published by Sceptre, priced f 6.
15—21 Aug 1997m£usrs