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REVIEW FILM 8. PHOTOGRAPHY WILLIE DOHERTY: BURIED The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 12 Jul 000
First impressions of Buried, a film made especially for Willie Doherty’s exhibition of the same name at The Fruitmarket, indicate that the Northern Irish artist has had a change of subject matter. We see a forest and can hear birdsong and other sounds of nature. As it is beautifully-lit and photographed, viewers could be forgiven for interpreting this as a peaceful scene. Slowly, peculiar details emerge. Why is there barbed wire in the foliage and a loop of wire pulled tight around a tree? Is that a spent cartridge on the ground? The soundtrack also subtly changes: the sounds aren’t entirely natural anymore.
Doherty’s work is deeply ingrained by the legacy of the Troubles. His films
and photographs are literally and metaphorically sited within Northern Ireland, and while they do explore universal themes, the repeated specificity of reference to place and events such as Bloody Sunday sometimes inhibit more open interpretations. Photographs of abandoned interiors, or ‘Last Occupant’, an image of the exterior of a very rundown building with lace curtains visible in the only window, gain a more loaded (and potentially tragic) interpretation than a photograph of urban detritus might do if taken in Glasgow, for example.
Doherty’s best work encompasses both specificity of place and a wider resonance: ‘Re-Run’ from 2002 is an excellent example. Shot on the bridge spanning the river that divides the Catholic and Protestant areas of Derry, this double projection places the viewer between two running figures - in fact the same man - running towards us on one screen and away from us on the other. The reason for the man’s flight is ambiguous; his expression doesn’t give us many clues. The film cuts in and out, the pace is frenetic. It is engrossing and exhausting.
‘Ghost Story’, to which ‘Buried’ is designed to be a companion piece, is slower paced and generally less interesting than either other film in this show. The palpable sense of mystery and unspecified menace in ‘Buried'
resonates longer than the measured narrative of ‘Ghost Story’, allowing the
viewer more scope to construct their own back-story for the objects left in the woods. (Liz Shannon)
88 THE LIST 14—28 May 2009
Hi Jil MIXED MEDlA
NEIL CLEMENTS: BUILT. LACKING
Doggerfisher, Edinburgh. until Sat 6 Jun ”0
Formerly lauded for his painterly Investigations into modernism and death metal. Glasgow-based artist Neil Clements eVinces traces of a finely distilled practice. Gone are the guitars and idols; Only Clements interest in formalist art production remains. And. while the artist's use of analogue technologies ~ large format Polaroids and slide dissolve units — signals a shift in technique. the resulting body of work continues to address painterly concerns.
Four works post an Oil painting of a Simple geometric shape next to a duplicating neon Sign. One is authoritative and light-emitting. the other a Curious. absorbing canvas; the comparison is seemingly academic. a suspiCion strengthened by Clements' reference to postmodernist heavy- weight Jean-Francois Lyotard in the accompanying literature. The work of American abstract expressionist Ad Reinhardt is a further point of reference. 'Moat'. a sculptural slice of white marble flooring. and PolarOid Bottomless Doubt' nod to the late painter. Clements' art historical posturing is playful. however, initiating a circunous consideration of paint. which only ever delivers the Viewer to the point from which they began: its dull futility in the face of glaring neon. While obscured by texts. techniques and processes. the materials' legacy is the affecting stuff here. Hence. the viewer does the legwork.
Admittedly obtuse and a slow- burner. Built. Lacki'ng's bedeering effect should not be overlooked. (Rosalie Doubal)
l" V” W SCULPTURAL WORKS 8. PRINTS
iii VIEW mm
PHILLIP LAI: INTRODUCTION AND JARGON
Transmission Gallery. Glasgow, until Sat 30 May 00
Londonbased Phillip Lai's new work for Transmission gallery comprises a two-screen \ideo presentation. One part was filmed in the artist's studio. the other in the upper gallery at Transmission, This was an attempt to bring together the two remote locations. yet in a very art-foreart-sake kind of way. ‘lntroduction', filmed in Glasgow. stages puffs of smoke rising in a spotlight ,, mesmerising at first, it quickly loses its appeal. ‘Jargon'_ produced in the artist ‘s studio, captures industrial materials used purely for aesthetic reasons: a substance foams around steel pipes. mud is dripped over others. smoke rolls across bits of earth and is captured in plastic containers. With both films on a continuous loop and lasting for about ten minutes. it contributes to the poetic pyrotechnic pedantry. The way his studio had been transformed into a construction sight is intriguing. Action is implied, but the instigalor never revealed. and we only see the remnants of a process in which the artist plays With his materials.
Something more interesting happens when the works are articulated in the accompanying text. Here there is talk of a correspondence between a spectral, invocatory event and its echoes which shift into and through other manipulated substances. I suspect this is more in line With the artist's intentions and even some of his earlier works.
There is indeed jargon here: a very private Iexrcon. or maybe just a London studio patOis? (Talitha Kotze)
ANNETTE RUENZLER: THE POWER TO FAINT AT WILL -
OR NOT
Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, until Sat 23 May 00”
It is often said you should talk to plants; in German artist Annette Ruenzler's subversive yet subtle universe. her flowers talk back. A series of cut—out flower photocooies are ‘pressed' on pages accompanied by tiny, flowmg newspaper- cutting letters. which form accusing. demanding or poetic phrases in a style reminiscent of ransom notes. It is this tension between the decorative and the sinister that plays together to form a brilliantly orchestrated observation on gender aesthetics. the civilised. masculine assertion and the ornamental.
Vulnerable or illusory situations dominate this show: a naked. female figure is seen upside down disguised in part by a domestic rug; Our presence, as observers, in the spaces skewed by mirrored peep holes. and a sculpture of tightly grasping adults arms held aloft by the weakest grip. a child's hand.
Ruenzler's materials. meanwhile. are both immaculate and delicate yet powerfully rendered. inviting a cautious and curious approach. This underscores her interest in the dichotomy between perceived strength and weakness. and frames her criticisms levied against more utilitarian. masculine ideals of the modernist landscape. In turn. the title of the show. where fragility and force combine. extends her tactical analySis of gender and visual politics. It reminds us that appearances can be deceptive and a delicate gesture can also hold the most formidable punch. (Alex Hetherington)