MIXED MEDIA ‘THE EYE OF THE
BEHOLDER’
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, until Sun 7 Apr 0..
Five artists, four genres and one highly dubious title make the DCA’s new exhibition both enthralling and annoying. Taken from a Margaret Wolfe Hungerford quote, the title is supposed to lead us into seeking an awareness of the subjectivity of vision and the role of attraction. This is clearly a nonsense dictum to cobble together five very interesting new artists under a tenuous banner. Surely all art is about perception.
First up is American artist Polly Apfelbaum, with her stunning Single Gun Theory, a large floorspace installation that takes its name from the official explanation for JFK’s death. This is what Apfelbaum calls a ‘fallen painting’ and is made from thousands of pieces of hand-dyed crushed velvet. Yoshihiro Suda’s One Hundred Encounters, the name of a Japanese lily, is in fact a single wooden lily secreted high on the wall of an empty space. With its awkward nods to the Fluxus and craft movements, this is a fascinating piece.
Vibeke Tandberg’s Faces, a set of twelve photographs of herself being digitally corrected, is undoubtedly the
PAINTINGS & PRINTS
BRIDGET RILEY: SILKSCREEN PRINTS b’dhur CCA, Glasgow, until Sun 17 Mar 00.
AND GOUACHES 1 963-2001
exhibition‘s Achilles heel, as it pretends to pose questions about the portrayal of truth and beauty. It is actually a poorly executed piece of vanity that any ten-year—old could achieve in Photoshop or has been done more successfully by artists using hormones and surgical implants. The point is still the same: our image can be manipulated by science. No shit?
Brazilian Rivane Neuenschwander describes her film Inventory Of Small Deaths as being ‘about the small
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Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, until Sat 6 Apr 0000
AltltOugh Bridget Riley has been croisxned op art Tl;i(}(}I‘ o"
the 608. y0u can forget about garish fractal posters are tne eyestrain incurred trying to find Jesus or the Mona I :sa 'l a stereograph. Riley is a tad more sophisticated. Us.ng cox/or and shape with a Simple frugality that belies the scientific theOry involved. Riley is able to viiake z'lax'es. lines and Circles flow. buzz and yibrate ‘.‘/!fII moyement. The eye is Riley's target and it is easin seduced by shrwzinering images
that constantly compete for attention.
Curved lines of red. green and blue slox'xly unduiaie t'lei‘. start to snake across the CENl‘JEtS. Black c rcles expand and
Spherical Vortex by Attila Csérgo
changes we experience daily and do not notice’. A huge soap bubble drifts across landscapes shot in gothic black and white to create a sinister experience. Finally, and best of all, Hungarian Attila Csorgo brings out the toys. Odd, geometric, generator- driven spinning-jenny constructions that draw you in with their reeling figures of eight and small triangles. It is absurdly pleasing viewing; meditative, garrulous, a little like watching a child wield a huge sparkler in the darkness. (Paul Dale)
decrease like ripples of u'rater .n reverse. Straight .i'ies of dense col0ur overpo‘.'/(-3r the senses. Diamond shapes buzz and flicker almost burning the retina .'.’Illl their a very impresswe. especially ~.'/hen you realise thai the addition of Just a little red or green can conipietel, foe and disorientate the brain enough to see movement.
This small exhibition also includes Riley's early back and white images on pleXiglas. illusory icons of the s'.-.'i'rg'ng {ids which still possess a fresh magic that i‘nakes their‘ ‘iin and challenging to y'ratch. No matter Ito's! hard you It", to understand and control the image it escapes; to «in its own c0urse. Riley's scientific tricken; combined ‘.'.’llll 'l(:" artistic talent makes this a fun. lively exhibition. ‘lSitllf::I£t ‘.".'eir
Coloured Greys (III), 1972
(It’lif; nue Ai‘
Mike Stubbs’ autobiographical film, Donut
II‘ has? works. Mike Stubbs has homed in on pigeon
fanciers and steam train buffs. His latest installation. Donut.
tackles a rather more conten‘i)orar‘y obsession: fast cars. A .i:l<;r; projection shox'xs Stubbs spnning a garish yellox'r
oar. ea'.:ng neai perfect circles of burnt rubber on tarmac —
an’oescents at a motor show with the arttst's face. deep in c<inceiutration. A series of monitors. meanx'xhile. shox'.’ :"~ter“. ie'.'.'s witl‘ ~:;-.'lthus:asts.
lnis :s. though. more than a homage to boy racers ol,s-:;-ss<:-d '.'.'.th :orgue. horsepower and fuel injection, The piece is rssentially autol)iographical. Stubbs hin‘isel‘ was an adolescent gear head. The jargon-filled ll‘ll(}l".l(3‘.'." films and has own reenactment of the Saturday nights of his youth seem to be a bin to recapturing. and thereby un<lerstanding. a forgotten side of himself. This lll‘.’(?81l§l£tll()ll cf the past is nned with an ei'iiphasis on the contrast t;(:i.'.’(:(tl‘, the young Stubbs consumed with p; ssion for fas‘. <:a"s. obsessed with dangerous tricks ~ and how he is Irma... iather more staid. perhaps. and. as he puts it in the accompanying text. 'a late father with a nice little baby'
Ili.s attempt to come to grips with his own deyelopment is subtle. and Stubbs is not in the business of Judging his foi'r‘ier sef oi the presentday men and y'romen he rii.i;stioi:s on their one for the automobile This is the work's strength: it is both an account of the artist's Journey from teei‘iagei to father and a fascinating insight into ‘.i.'l(ff:.'(ll(,‘tilltf ca! culture. slack Motti'am.
Art
PAINTING MIXED MEDIA DAMAGE: WILLIAM COPLEY & ALAN MICHAEL Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, until Sat 9 Mar .000
Alan Michael's wOrk has been described as beginning from any number Or obSCure points of inspiration. and ‘yvilfully defying interpretation. Defying interpretation seems to be the raison d'etre of many of Michael's COiitemporaries. which is fine. but “ya/illul' defiance nevertheless preSu‘meS the aud:ence's interest initially.
Fortunately. this exhibition is compelling. due in part to the Curation, which iuxtaposes Michael's work. as a contemporary Glasgow-based artisti. with two paintings by a dead legend. US artist and gallery owner CPLY :Willian‘ Copleyi.
Signal by Alan Michael
As a role model to today's rebel intellectual art clique. CPLY's Credentials are in‘peccabie — ie'low mavericks Duchan'p and Magr'tte were airong his friends — and his influence on later generations of artists as the bridge between US Pop Art and European Surrealism is '.'.’ldC|y ackm unleoged. My iI/lot/ie."/arld Can Fuck Your Rattler/aha H957» is Subversive and very American, unaffected by pointed Britisn tinderstatement and coy irony.
Despite the half-century gap. Michael and CPLY seen‘ to share an interest :n self-consorotisly bad. faux-r‘a‘f panting and both eriwp'oy OD‘J us. immediate imagery :eg Michael's arrangement of st is from Ern‘anno Oln‘i' llll‘.‘ Lunga Vita All Signorai in the creation of enign‘atic. slightly siniste" uncrks. From an art historical perspect'ye alone this exhibiton unorth Zl‘.\'(-)Sllg£ll on. lSusannah T?l()-’l‘t)t$()".'
'.‘. 5.1m .KTCL‘ THE LIST 83