Art
onmwruo JERVéOOD DRAWING
PRIZ Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow,
until Sat 22 Feb 0.
You tend to know where you are with drawing. Someone has made a mark on a surface, most often with a pencil or pen, and here you are, looking at it. No leaps of faith required, no grounding in contemporary practice needed.
With this in mind, the Jerwood Drawing Prize show comes as something of a surprise. There’s drawing here, much of it thoroughly conventional, but the selection committee have thrown caution to the wind and, however blurry you like your boundaries, have included much that is not drawing.
Susan Collis shows Work on It, a brand new table artfully distressed to look like a well-used one. Tim Machin’s Situation at Noon Today is a newspaper weather map with all the cloud symbols cutout. On the one hand, it is a brave decision, meant to show that contemporary drawings
making more interesting work than their less adventurous contemporaries. In this company, the winning drawing - An Anecdotal Plan of Tate Britain by Adam Dant, a competent, occasionally funny illustration of an irritating navel-gaze of an idea - seems weak in the
Susan Collis’ Work on It
Charles Avery, who makes cartoons finding common ground between Renaissance sketches and post-war French comic books. Much here, though, is well below par.
This is a disappointing exhibition that, unbelievably, manages to make contemporary drawing look like an
can be more than the familiar pencil extreme. sketch. The problem comes when you compare the non-traditional with the traditional: Collis’ table and Machin‘s collage stand out in terms of quality,
as well as form. They are simply
MIX! [J MEDIA EIJI WATANABE AND KAREN
HENDERSON Tag Team Experiment, Edinburgh, ongoing COO.
Re-sign by Eiji Watanabe
T rred ol the rnrnrrnalrst nrodernrty of most gallerres’? Then there's sornethrng strange gorng on hehrnd the door of a normal terrace house rn Meadoy'xhank that rnrght serye as a r'etr'eshrng cor'rectrye. It rs cal!ed the Tag Team Fxperrrnent. the hr‘arnchrld of enyrr'onrnental artrst Brlly McCall.
McCall cleared out hrs lounge. hut left the whrte y'roodchrp ‘.'.'allpaper and grey \.rnyl carpet to ayord any rnstallatron <‘lrches. lle rrnrled 2‘1 artrsts y'xhose work he adrnrr'ed to exhrhrt lherr work rn a rollrng rota. 'l drdn't want to he rn a posrtron of poy'rer' so I thought I would krck rt oil and then see what happens.’ says McCall. ‘Ortce you'ye exhrhrted rn the space the general rdea rs that you then arrange tor sorneone to take your place. That ‘.'.ray thrngs hecorne rnore organrc. thrngs can change.'
lhe lag learn Txperrrnent hegan rn Septernher 200? wrth Mrke Nelson and Rachel l ow and rs set to run untrl August 7003.. Round .2 and f) are very prornrsrng. Errr Watanahe runtrl ill Janr rs a Japanese photogr'aphrc artrst known for hrs shots of y'rashrng lrnes. llrs He srgn collectron looks at the grallrtr on the rocks at the top of Arthur's Seat. ()nto these rrnages \.‘\/atanahe rngenrously etches hrs own gr‘altrtr rn the lorrn of a trppexed logo. Karen Henderson luntrl 28 lehr lrkes to \.'.'ork wrth sheds. and her thrng rs guestronrng the rdea oi the functronal yersus the spectacular. So we get a two tone stahle door and loyer parr ol ohlong shutters. lhrs rs not as strong as her Rarrrhorrr /’/oo/ work hut rt rs inn. and thoughtful ol the space. none the less. lPauI Dalm
84 THE LIST ~ is" 1» him.
Not that it’s all bad. Student Prize winner Chie Konishi takes over a corner with 3.14, a dizzying, incomprehensible, unnatural fractal of but not for the drawings. tiny precise marks. And there’s
anachronistic practice by juxtaposing poor drawings with interesting collages, conceptual works and installations. It’s worth seeing, sure,
(Jack Mottram)
INSTALLATION
HENRIK HAKANSSON: TALES FROM A FOREST WITHOUT A NAME
The Modern Institute, Glasgow, until Sat 22 Feb 0..
On apor‘oachrr‘g the door of the Modern lnstrtute you couid he for‘gryen tor rr‘rstakrng the gallery f'or an aysary The sound en‘anat'ng front the space .5; an all-enc >n‘passrng. n‘elodrc (:hrr‘r'uprr‘g £t't(l t‘.'.'eetrr‘g. Beneath the hrrdsong. the low drone of l.'.'hat could erther he hackgrcund traftrc or the n‘ourniul hass tones of Trnetan huddhrst rr‘antras can he heard.
lr s'de the gallery. you see a hrrilrant. exotzc hrrd — Gurney 's Prtta -- arr‘rd dense troorcal folrage through we or‘ Earth style docurr‘entary can‘erawork. The revert:er'atrr‘g sound conres fron‘ a 12m record. played through a slrck. hlack turntable. Addtronal copres are stacked agarnst the wall teaturwng str ls ir'orr‘ the frlh‘. ‘.'.’ril‘ Gurney 's Prttzt as the coyer star.
In ar‘. adracent roorr‘. you frnd docun‘entary research n‘aterra‘s prr‘ned to the wall ty'xo rr‘aps of lhar'and. the newnsula rr‘arked y'nth areas of the hrr'ds' hahrtat through h story. trarrted ohsen.atro"s. hrrtl\.'.’atcher's' treldr‘otes and one :ush. coloured photograph of xegetatron.
Tales from a Forest '.'.'r.‘.‘><)t.f a Name cont.nues llz‘tkansson's rnterest rn hroiogy and rs part of The Brros. a frlrn serres dedrcated to endangered hrr‘ds and thezr‘ hahrtats. ln pr'e\.rous rrrstallatrons. he has created a ll‘l'll'jtlllgk} drsco for techno— loyrng frogs rn 9(3 and a hutterfly farn‘ at the E)? Venrce B-ennale. Here. Hz‘tkansson's works srts perfectly \.'.*rth'n what rs the Modern lnstrtute's house style: art aprng scrence rn whrch yrsual art eguals lrndrngs - eyrdence of actryrty carried out elsewhere. rSusannah Thon‘pson;
Hakansson’s homage to the Gurney’s Pitta
GROUP SHOV. BUSCO SIMILAR Collective Gallery,
Edinburgh, until Sun 23 Feb 0.
V:srts to the Collectrye Gal!ery are hest undertaken wzth a frrrn resolve to altrurstrcally Judge the work on drsplay. even though you may y'rant to screar“ 'shrtf' and rorn the sneerrng Saturday Subculture on Cockhurh Street. Narye young to >ls: don't they realrse that they too \.'.':ll >ne day rorn the realrh ot ".'.va'rky" adulthood and he not only forced to look at art but to make sense of rt as use“? Fortunately n‘akrng sense of the present work at the Collectrve. Buscc S!l.“/.I(i." and Counterstock. rs easy. errng rt rs slrghtly harder. The srx artrsts partrca ;rt Busco Sr/rrr/ar dely er humour and SOll‘O g( or‘ rdeas n‘rxed ‘.'.'rt.“. 7th seems lrke oyert laxr:ess and lack of rllSl)ll’£tll()ll. Lrlr Reyr‘auo has created a glrslenrng gznger iountarn of glasses irlled ‘.'.’llll lrn-Bru. the el x:r' of west coast hangoxer's. replaczng charr‘pagne. To a forn‘er lrn» Br'u addrct. th:s rs extrerr‘ely funr‘y and the concept should he sold as the hrghlrght for k ds partres.
:aur‘g
e; a A .2); 7E: " Reynauld’s Irn-Bru tower
Ox'reh Prper's farge ear trun‘pet rs good look "g a'td an‘us ng. Made from (:lr"g irfrr‘. rt aestt‘et ca ‘1. supersmles aii the other art \.'.ror’ks or‘ drsplay. John lyluilen's unork retry es has don‘est'c youth ‘.'.rth mood.
p eces of n‘2rror' and carpet. Strange. the rr‘e'nc-r es ‘.'.e can take from chldhood. Rohn Scott. ‘.'.~t.h “ s green hottles. s tould rea y t’\ harder at deyelortrng hrs rdea.
Cczrrrersfcck 5:. Karen Loughrrdge's atten‘pt to show the n‘arketplace as an exchange hetwee", go ms and people. But her rtrrhhle of retro o )rects and kztscl‘ tourrst products; oesn't really rrse to the challenge o" exp'ahrng trade.
The Cot'ectrye as a platform for en‘er'grng ar'tzsts 's laucahle. hut the artists heed to ser/e the chance ‘.'.’rl“. greater yerye. .lsahella Wen