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Visual Art

REVIEW MIXED MEDIA SCULTURAL INSTALLATION

MICHAEL STUMPF: GLOCKCHEN WHIPLASH

Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, until Sat 5 Jul 0...

There are two identical wall paintings. apparently of sunsets. in Michael Stumpf's new exhibition. Why two sunsets. and no sunrise? Part of the strange mix of disparate elements that somehow creates a specific sense of time and place. the work featured in Stumpf's exhibition continually dodges the viewer's expectations.

Stumpf's use of sCqutural installation, found materials and references to modernist practice is refreshing and original. The large hanging sculpture. ‘When We Slow Down'. is attached to the ceiling via a cast bronze hook and ring the last place you would expect an artist to use this special material. Elsewhere. Stumpf alters a famous line from a Robert Frost poem for one of his titles. “The woods are angry dark and deep. is it light where you are yet?‘ In the piece ‘Blackened'. the sculptures collapsing angles give the impression of a modernism on its knees. alternatively suggesting the piece could represent an animal whose knees are about to buckle.

While the narrative behind the work is never made explicit. this exhibition has been constructed by an artist with a confident hand who is clear about what he has to say. lLl/ Shannoni

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REVIEW MIXED MEDIA X (GROUP SHOW) Recoat, Glasgow, until Wed 2 Jul 000

The title of this group show in the intimate space of Glasgow's Recoat shop- come-gallery is a reference to the venue's tenth show. but it also suggests a lot about the work on display. There's no apparent thematic through-line to the exhibition. but each of the featured artists has a bold and contemporary style

which becomes their signature.

Perhaps the best-known. at least locally. is Kirsty Whiten. whose 'The Council'. ‘Hareem Scene' and ‘Horsebreaker' diptych paint pictures of new rave-attired parents watching over devilish children and a man being tied up and strangled by a young woman. Whiten's characters are rough. yet they appear in elegantly corniced frames as a subversion of the more classical forms they imitate.

Graffiti—themed art also dominates the predominantly pseudonymous show. from the neatly constructed, glitter-covered tags of Ga/mac to Rekor's rather advertorial painting. ‘Big Time'. Swampdonkey's ink works. ‘The Haunted Organ' (Pac-Man ghosts rise from the titular instrument) and ‘Haiiy Bones' (which depicts a strange new creature. half man and half mammoth). are solidly imagined.

As engaging as many of these works are, however. very few of them reveal a formal thought process. Other than Whiten. only Eiek's 'Over 1000 Tags' succeeds in this deeper respect. a brew of the artist's signature sprayed on board over and over again until it becomes prettily but uselessly illegible. (DaVid Pollock)

REVIEW PAINTING JAMES RYAN: PARALLAX

Corn Exchange Gallery, Edinburgh, until Thu 17 Jul 0.

Young painter James Ryan was the recipient of the Conran Foundation Award when he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2007, yet his work falls between the pillar of artistic intent and the post of cleanly- realised design. In his attempt to mimic the neat lines of architecture it’s easy to see why his name would be associated with Conran, yet in his reappropriation of this style within the realm of abstract painting, his work also finds its meaning.

To most viewers, however, the pieces will represent little more than a pretty and aesthetically pleasing investment. Ryan’s reasoning in creating them is a flimsy one, but it’s bound essentially within the fabric of the work. The title of the show refers to the way an object changes in relation to an observer’s viewpoint of it, and these pieces offer a fundamentally different experience depending on the distance from which they’re viewed.

We are presented with 18 acrylic paintings on canvas, each showing various clusters of geometric shapes. Usually these take the form of squares, tipped onto

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their corners and comprised of various-sized triangles within. The angles of these squares create more triangles in the corner of each frame, and most of these unique shapes are then coloured differently. From a distance, the lines in these pieces are strong and solid, as if they were created by a machine.

Then the viewer adjusts their position. Close up, we can see the hand-tooled edges of each mark that has been made, each fuzzy-fringed line that has been painted by Ryan’s own hand. Striving for something close to perfection, he nevertheless can’t resist including his own flaws in the work, from the dribble of paint which has rolled down the face of ‘Cluster’ to the subtle lines which have marked the surface of an untitled triptych.

Other works, such as ‘Leblon’ and ‘Ghost’, resemble smashed and toppling panes of glass from a distance and rough shards of broken concrete when their faces have been investigated. While such formal playfulness adds to the experience of viewing Ryan’s art, it doesn’t disguise the fact that there’s something inherently dry and underwhelming about each painting, which may fail to draw the viewer to the necessary distance. (David Pollock)

'filullu' by John (Bililni

19 Jun 1% Jlll 2008 THE LIST 95