In Situ
Edinburgh: Talbot Rice Gallery until Sat 18Apr fi' *3? fr
Galleries can be strange places. Come a private View, they’re awash with bonhomie which, for all the well- intentioned air of celebration, means you don't get to see much of the art. The rest of the time they can be Zen- like spaces that makes the casual vrsitor speak in whispers as they self- consciously skirt around the work.
Though hardly renowned for its Cutting edge, the Talbot Rice has attempted to get beyond this conundrum With ln Situ, With SIX recent graduates of Edinburgh College of Art, 'whose work gently challenges the viewers perception, not only of the world but also of the artworld and the conventions of the gallery.’
With this in mind, Davrd Hillary's Receiver amps tip heating systems and lift shafts, then relays them into the ether before musicrans pick the result
Robert Montgomery at work on The Radiant Glorious Sulphurous Smouldering Sky
up via the Internet and develop it at Will. Thing is, it’s hard to pick tip beyond the chit chat, and few people actually notice. Similarly, though more successfully, Robert Montgomery’s False Airplanes amplifies the sound of a junkyard computer's hard drive, which sounds exactly like a plane in flight, inveigling its way into the unconsoous as it goes.
Jane Fawns Watt’s Video work The Bees allows us a bird’s eye view into the honey-pot, While Jonathan Rabagliati's embraced-affection is a series of illuminated sculpture mobiles suspended in a darkened room. Lucy Scott’s works about dogs — pedigree affection and lots of tongue-licking — are the Wittiest in the show,
All very novel, but no matter how much you tart it up or dress it down, a gallery is still a gallery, and while the clean lines here are a welcome debunking of grandeur, there’s still a coldness at play which never makes one feel fully at home. (Neil Cooper)
Sale Or Return
Edinburgh: Fruitmarket Gallery until Wed 25 Mar a w it it
Bring and buy. Show and tell. Mix and match. Exhibitions aren't meant to be like this. In What's essentially an extension of the Fruitmarket’s wonderfully esoteric bookshop, a whopping 92 artists show off assorted customised beer cans, hand-made pamphlets, T-shirts, bric-a-brac and all manner of pocket-Sized oddities, most of which are gomg for a song.
It's full of Wit and Whimsy and to Single out individual artists would be to undermine the spirit of the thing, though Lyn Haston's Mini Dig and Thomas A. Clarke's Plaque sum up the irreverent attitude, while Rose Frain's Aesthetic Excess Tax is a wry poke at the legitimisation of the creative
Hand held coloured lights by Duncan Bremner
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process, which should resonate With any self-employed arty type buried in the bureaUCracy of personal finance, Maybe a penCiI, a badge or Patrick Jamieson’s Power Tool Top Trumps are more up your street.
Sale Or Return is an ingenious idea, as gallery spaces overlap and converge into a laid-back Speakeasy Vibe light years away from the stuffed shirt and tweed jacket perusal of the precious and untouchable. Indeed, the most casual punter is encouraged to get all touchy-feely With the obiets d'art. No fascist gallery attendant Will pounce on you here. Don’t look for any hidden inner meanings though what you see is what you get. And any exhibition that can provoke an outbreak of snogging in its midst on opening night must be domg something right. Art as aphrodisrac perhaps? (Neil Cooper)
' Andrew R. Mackenzie.“
review ART
Science of the Face
Edinburgh: National Portrait Gallery until SunZAug *wk‘k‘k it, ’Now, where have I seen that face before7' We’ve all had that trauma of meeting someone but not being able to put a name to their mush. This is Just one of the teasing elements in Professors Vicki Bruce and Andy Young’s stimulating show, Which is running in conjunction With the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
The exhibition looks at nearly every facet of the face' the differences inherent in terms of race, sex and age Nifty computerised manipulation results in Old <..(')'l‘i(’/'.’ilrr'.f" (7r .‘qei‘. lain ‘li/ 7, a st‘ \: k, and pomted amalgam of Blair and Thatcher ln ,‘vfor/i‘ ,‘Irr; ,’i‘/:’r' Purl» ' portraits of the Jacobite-the-Taif at three different mitt“. are i'n \li‘l‘w’l ti: the ageing process.
The science can be blinding at times There is an i)\’(‘l iizszstairte i: rigid determinants, such as our ability to recognise fairiily traits, '.'.'hi:e .tl'i') it’ll‘..ll'.lll(l that the face can never reveal a person's pclitics or their criminality Ti .3! is a well—fleshed face of a show (Brian Doi‘aldsoni
Mix 'n' Thatch: Thatcher/Blair by Phiippe Schyns and Ande Oliva
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The Britannia Lord Provost Prize Glasgow: Gallery Of Modern Art until Sun i7 May
Not Mad Just A Wee Bit D ft by Gordon K. Mitchell
GiVing the finger to Turner Pfl/L‘ ironyisiii, the Lord Provost’s f"l/t‘ (Jill populist rebuff to the dealer-iiifr.>sti:d world of high art Six .iiri~,ts a'e chi, .~-.-i ': . celebrities from media and business each tlieii sii'tiiriita one ‘.‘/:)ll’ ff,’ slim: : The public is then asked to vote for its favourite work
Since kicking tip a right hoo-ha over the level of last year s standards, :iaiie" member and The Herald art Critic Clare Henry, is still Iairientiiir; thr- Pull," it". 6’ 'vrdeo artists and conceptualists', but opts for Dawson i‘c‘iii'rav Spied friirii his Through To The Light is a shimmering, shifting present e Strain l_l<)lll}‘; Sparking Water. An inky blue pool It's simultaneously irxvstital, literal and abstract. An odd chorce
Courtesy of broadcaster Sheena McDonald is f_i(‘.'lll3 c arlrsle‘s r:’er.erfi, a colourful, exuberant study of flowers and vases reriiiiiisceni of birthday minis AS expected, Peter Howson’s Drum 77 is typically held, Visceral and bitter. Dealing With bigotry and conoswe emotions, Howson was chosen by lawyer Ross Harper Both know how to play to the gallery. A good bet perhaps for the, year's ‘.‘.:l‘.l‘('l, but don't disc0unt the others who are hanging in there Torriiiiy l...‘.ason, Gordon K. Mitchell 0r Harry More Gordon (Paul Welsh)
Edinburgh: Bellevue Gallery until Sat 28 Mar w w a v
Pavement grey and frequently seared With thinly drawn lines - ir-rriiiiv,,t=iit of pavement cracks -- Andrew Mackenzre’s paintings hint strongly at the urban enVironment. But clear-Cut interpretation is a no»no A quote heading the s‘i-tiw's catalogue — 'Some things are abOiit other things a belief can be about icebergs, but an iceberg is not about anything' ~ suggests anything goes
Minimal but never too chilly, lvtackenzre's paintings are illiil‘st studies, in abstracted space But like icebergs With much of their bulk iiivleiwater, they suggest much more, Flat slabs of grey oil paint are sometimes interruptid by markings in penCil and biro Vital punctuation to visual groom-any Soriietiirws there is col0iir A line of rich orange runs through the greyness, waking up "he whole canvas In others, there is a move skyward A greyiiess i‘icottisl‘. sly-grey) is cut across by what could be telephone Wires
In his smaller works, Mackenzre 'collages‘ shapes \"vllltl! are Vrii‘ql‘. penCil-written text A Juggle of forms and ideas, they arr ‘.’l',l.'rll ineaiizlers MackenZIe, a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, is pursuing an interesting path. (Susanna Beaumont)
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