Visual art, Exhibition

Peles Empire: F X G

Multidimensional reproduction of a Peles Castle's ceramic sculpture by established artists

One possible first thought upon entering the gallery and witnessing this exhibition is that its hanging doesn't appear to have been finished. Against the austere walls of this old industrial space, featureless rectangles of concrete hang unlabelled and…

Julie Brook's made, unmade

Fascinating multimedia installation calling upon all senses to enter landscapes' wilderness

For this large-scale multimedia collaboration with Dovecot Studios, Julie Brook has attempted to bring the wilderness with her and site it within a darkened gallery space. Although she lives on Skye, it’s the hot desert tones and ambience of her working…

The Foamy Saliva of a Horse by Carol Bove

Concise, erudite and illumaniting installation which will absolutely draw you in

This exhibition at The Common Guild presents Carol Bove’s work for the first time in Britain. With an adept and highly poetic consideration of the gallery space, the show displays a variety of found objects, from driftwood, peacock feathers and…

The Middle Place presented by Garry Fabian Miller

Step into the timelessness of nature captured by the world acclaimed Bristolian photographic artist

The Middle Place is Bristolian photographic artist and gardener Garry Fabian Miller's personal viewing area from which he can eyeball the seasonal synergies which have made him an acclaimed international artist. It's best to start upstairs with this…

Ciara Phillips: And More

Canadian-born and Glasgow-based artist presents new collection of screenprints

X marks the spot in Inverleith House's latest show in which a contemporary artist responds to work in the RBG's archival holdings of botanical-based art. Arriving just in time for the sun to belatedly shine, and running alongside 'Nature Printed'…

Slovakian Master Printers

Group show highlighting the works of Karol Felix, Igor Benca, Robert Jancovic and Marian Komacek

There’s a muscular gloss to much of the work on show in this showcase of four Slovakian printmakers that forms part of an ongoing international exchange initiated by the Scottish Society of Artists. Much of this is to do with the mezzotint techniques by…

The York painter Harland Miller explores the art of fiction in Overcoming Optimism

Cock-snooking obscenities with darkly subversive intent

If the Obscene Publications Squad are on the case of this first solo exhibition in Scotland by a York-born painter with a name like a pulp fiction hack, rest easy. Miller’s monumental depictions of dog-eared Penguin book designs down the decades may…

The best visual art exhibitions of 2012

Featuring Glasgow International, Ian Hamilton Finlay, David Peat, Susan Philipsz and Studio 58

1 Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art Glasgow International returned for its fifth edition with the usual impressive city-wide programme of Scottish and international artists. Highlights included new work by Karla Black, whose layer cake of…

Donald Judd: Drawings 1963-93

It’s hard to decide how this display of work by the late American sculptor Donald Judd should be approached. As an insight into the working practice of one of the most celebrated minimalist designers of the 20th century, an artist whose hard-edged and…

Soviet Grand Designs

Surprising exhibition of art created under suppression

John Barkes, an art dealer and collector based in London, has been buying works by Soviet artists since his 1992 visit to St Petersburg. He has since met more than 400 contemporary artists in the interest of buying their paintings and has assembled…

Design exhibition Scotland Can Make It showcases quality Commonwealth souvenirs

The Panel-curated event dispenses with tartan tat in the run up to the 2014 Games

Enter ‘Scottish souvenir’ into your mental Google and what comes up? A crazy straw with a kilted bagpiper at the top? A See You Jimmy bunnet? What about a ceramic jelly mould based on the interior of Glasgow’s Rogano? A picnic blanket inspired by a…

Jannis Kounellis

An eerie, uneasy sculpture show from the Arte Povera figurehead

As part of Tate’s Artist Rooms touring collection, Tramway presents this exhibition of old and new works by Jannis Kounellis. As one of the most influential figures of the 1960s movement, Arte Povera, or poor art, Kounellis uses installations of…

James McLardy - The Swan and Hostage

Enjoyable exhibition questioning the inherent value and fakeness of sculpted pieces

James McLardy’s solo show 'The Swan and Hostage' is the result of his six-week residency at the Duchy gallery in the east end of Glasgow. The title echoes the pub-like feel to the gallery’s name and location: the swan symbolises the beautiful, the…

Karen L Vaughan

Textile exhibition lacks the depth required to overcome its busy surroundings

I can’t get that sound you make out of my head is a small display of Karen Vaughan’s series of embroidery panels in the Arches’ foyer. The works are hand-sewn panels of torn up old clothes from second hand shops, which are re-sewn with carefully…

Group show - Studio 58

Inspiring, non-didactic collection of female artists' work since 1939

Glasgow School of Art brings together a collection of 54 women artists of working Glasgow since World War II in an unusual mix of craft, textile, painting and performance curated by Dr Sarah Lowndes. The GSA acts as a geographic tie for the show…

Katja Strunz: Dynamic Fatigue Test

Thought-provoking exhibition of metallic sculpture and works on paper

Metal fatigue is the progressive and localised structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loadings. Berlin-based artist Katja Strunz has set up fatigue tests in the gallery to determine how materials will hold up during…

Vive la Tapisserie! 3 at The French Institute

Exhibition of miniature tapestries from Edinburgh's STAR* collective

For the third year running STAR* returns to the French Institute with an exhibition of miniature tapestries - Vive la Tapisserie!3. This follows on from their successful retrospective That was Then: This is Now at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh, at the…

Artist Matthew Darbyshire set for new Tramway show

London artists draws inspiration from Charles Rennie Mackintosh

The distinctive art nouveau style of artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh has become synonymous with Glasgow. Lauded for his elegant design of the art school, and the organic allure of his decorative works, his influence now reaches well beyond his artistic…

Warm up this winter with free art in Edinburgh

Now the party season is over and the festivities long gone, you and your wallet could probably do with a little TLC. Luckily the National Galleries of Scotland have a full programme of free exhibitions and events during January, to help nourish the mind…

Interview: Kirsty Whiten

Breeder Badlands show at Edinburgh Printmakers

What made you want to be an artist? The uniform. And the pension plan. Your new solo show, Breeder Badlands, explores the complexities of the familial unit. What was the original inspiration for the exhibition? This work is really personal – friends and…

Design and Democracy exhibition - Free Family Weekend to mark St Andrew's Day

Free events include building your own rocket and radio-controlled car

Design affects the lives of all of us. Whether it’s an intuitive new phone, a car that tells us we’ve left the lights on, or the Kindle doing something nobody expected and actually improving on the design of a book, who of us have not had our lives…

Thea Djordjadze - Lost Promise in a Room

A considered display of sculpture and objects in effective, minimalist setting

Strange objects roughly sculpted in plaster, propped up against walls, placed in corners and laid out in unusual places, are contrasted against minimalist lines of steel and smooth mirrored cubes. A lump of chicken wire is securely contained in a…

Transmission Gallery Group Show

Sam Derounian, Graham Kelly and Conor Kelly shine in local artist showcase

A commendable group show brings together new work by nine Glasgow-based artists at the Transmission Gallery. Without a didactic theme to tie the exhibition together the viewer is free to contemplate works individually and to make subtle links with…

Glasgay!: Re-Invention

Exhibition and workshop aimed at gay and trans comic fans

The idea of gay culture in comics is nothing new, with handfuls of uptight academics frantically pointing out the homoerotic sub-tones of Batman and Robin’s cartoon exploits since the 1950s. The foundations of X-Men arguably lie in the civil rights…

Stephen Sutcliffe: Runaway, Success

Biography-obsessed artist hides behind his heroes

It’s been a while since Yorkshire-born Glasgow resident Sutcliffe has trotted out his curious wares in Scotland, and it’s not difficult to see why. His work is moody and peppered with arch cultural references to complex arty prima donnas Joe Orton…