Visual art and Painting & drawing

Tom Phillips

Big picture

1 Nov 2007

Tom Phillips Widely considered a touchstone of postmodernism, Tom Phillips’ artistic project, ‘A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel’, has achieved cult status since its initial publication in 1970. One day, Phillips went into a book shop with the…

William Sinclair: Aspects of the Clyde

Portraying the emotion of the once bustling harbour

2 Oct 2009

This exhibition of paintings and drawings by William Sinclair (1930–1997) captures the once bustling, now dormant harbours and docks of Greenock and Port Glasgow where the artist lived. Educated at Glasgow School of Art in the 50s, and a respected…

Gerhard Richter

Man for all seasons

30 Oct 2008

When Sonic Youth toured their 1988 Daydream Nation album in 2007 on the back of the same year's two-CD deluxe edition of what had originally been the New York art rock pioneers' final independent release, the original LP cover art was probably the last…

Pádraig Timoney – Shepard Tone

Deceptive and frustrating mixed media show with no clear theme

14 Mar 2012

Shepard Tone offers an eclectic mix of painting, photography and mixed media wall-based work, seemingly with little in common. The title describes an auditory illusion of continually descending or ascending pitch. As expected, the exhibition is…

Peter Howson - Andrew: Portrait of a Saint

City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, until Sun 4 Mar

12 Feb 2007

PAINTING DRAWING Peter Howson’s recent works have carried a strong religious theme. This exhibition is evidence of that, featuring as it does a large number of paintings, drawings and sketches, all dedicated to the Scottish patron saint. Howson…

Artist Rooms

2 Apr 2009

GROUP SHOW One of two flagship group shows to stem from Anthony d’Offay’s gift to the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate last year (the other is at Tate Modern), Artist Rooms is bright and inspiring and bulges with defining work from some of the…

Artist Anthony Fry on why he’s happy to be back in Scotland.

As well as why he loves coming home to paint

5 Aug 2010

As he prepares to showcase work inspired by exotic foreign locations renowned painter Anthony Fry tells Talitha Kotzé why he’s delighted to be back in Scotland. Well-known for needing the heat to paint, Anthony Fry has spent a great deal of time in…

Elizabeth Blackadder

Brilliant retrospective of work by one of Scotland’s major artists

3 Aug 2011

Elizabeth Blackadder is a Dame, a Royal Academician and arguably Scotland’s most popular female painter and printmaker. A major retrospective of her work at Scotland’s biggest gallery space was only ever going to draw sighs of resignation from art snobs…

Gerhard Richter: Paintings

11 Dec 2008

Time is running out to catch the first retrospective in the UK for 20 years of Gerhard Richter’s work (his first ever exhibition in Scotland). The stunning show reflects the zeitgeist of Richter’s native Germany between World War II and the early Cold…

Three

11 Nov 2006

An exhibition of paintings by Glasgow painters David Sillars, Michele David and Eva Gustavsson. The artists examine how the application and removal of paint creates layers of time and suggested landscapes that are trapped beneath the skins of their…

Video: animated street art at Newhaven

Edinburgh artist Spaceboy animates a 150 metre-long mural along fishmarket shutters

4 May 2012

Edinburgh artist Mike Inglis, aka Spaceboy, has collaborated with Red Stripe on transforming the shutters of Newhaven fishmarket into a Jamaica-inspired animation. The first cut of the video can be seen below. Spaceboy pasted his illustrations…

Andrew Kerr – So Ensconced

Over 70 new paintings in this debut solo exhibition from the Glasgow-based artist

19 Dec 2011

Absence makes the heart grow fonder in Andrew Kerr’s first major solo show in Scotland. Almost 70 new paintings discreetly dominate both floors, only interrupted by the odd smattering of drawings or sculptural intervention. Most of the mainly…

Linder - King’s Ransom (Hybrid Tea)

15 Apr 2010

Legendary visual artist and Morrissey pal Linder discusses her epic new performance piece and eagerly awaited exhibition with Neil Cooper What are words worth? ‘Glamour’, for instance, is a Scottish derivative that comes directly from the word…

Alasdair Gray - art review

4 Oct 2007

To cherry pick from one’s own oeuvre sounds delightfully painful, a self indulgent task requiring sticky fingers and a good eye. It should be someone else’s enviable job, especially when the artist in question is Alasdair Gray, one of Scotland’s most…

Alan Reid: Boudoir Concrete

Delicately balanced clashing of art and design

16 Sep 2011

Looking for all the world like propaganda posters for Nazi leisure organisation Kraft durch Freude, Alan Reid’s representational drawings of lissome young bodies appear to promote healthy living and sexless appeal. Lithe bodies are interrupted by…

Affordable Art: Getting Started - Susanna Beaumont

29 Apr 2010

Buying and owning art can bring both pleasure and profit, and you don’t need stacks of cash to get started. We begin our guide with some tips from a prominent gallery owner...

Cornish visual artist Kurt Jackson discusses his history and working practices

16 Apr 2012

Artbeat Kurt Jackson What was the first exhibition you went to see? Being the son of two artists meant that I was brought up visiting numerous exhibitions, both of their contemporaries and public shows. However, there was an exhibition in 1985 at…

Warm up this winter with free art in Edinburgh

4 Jan 2012

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…

Alasdair Gray: City Recorder

Fantastic exhibition of drawings chronicling Glasgow's past

19 Dec 2011

For one year in 1977, at a time when many of Glasgow’s famous old industries were closing, Alasdair Gray was commissioned to capture the life of the city in ink, watercolour, acrylic and oil on paper. Glasgow’s local history museum, the People’s Palace…

Alison Watt – Hiding in Full View

The artist's paintings are good, but suffer in comparison to the photography of Francesca Woodman

19 Dec 2011

‘All rooms will hide you, if you stand just so – ghosts know this, that’s really all they know,’ declares one of the poems by Don Paterson (a credited collaborator in this show), which are printed in fluid lower case type just below eye level on the…

The Scottish Colourists series: FCB Cadell

Retrospective of the early 20th century colourist's work displays a life-long development of talent

15 Nov 2011

To modern eyes this retrospective of the work of early 20th century Edinburgh colourist FCB Cadell might appear a little staid, a procession of chintzy New Town interiors and still life compositions involving china crockery and the distinctive white…

Hiding in Full View - Alison Watt interview

The painter discusses her latest exhibition, a response to American photographer Francesca Woodman

21 Oct 2011

What first made you want to be a painter? My father is a painter, so the idea of looking at and making paintings has always been a very normal and natural activity for me. The place I felt most at home as a child was in my father’s studio. It seemed to…

Ciara Phillips: The only rule is work

Exhibition the result of a three-month residency at Kendall Koppe, inspired by Sister Corita Kent

21 Oct 2011

‘The only rule is work’ is one of ten accommodating rules for students and teachers developed by artist and educator Sister Corita Kent. Ciara Phillips’ exhibition is the result of her three-month residency in the gallery space where she shared a…

Central Station: Charlie Anderson

Provocative rising artist with an eye on contemporary culture

21 Oct 2011

Since graduating in 2009, Charlie Anderson has pissed off art collectors, curators, graffiti writers, three world-renowned artists, been threatened by a leading London gallerist, and has been punched in the face by an Edinburgh artist. He has also won…

Lucy Roscoe - The Beach House

Collection of sea-themed prints and paper sculptures in convivial deli setting

21 Sep 2011

Edinburgh-based artist-illustrator and founder of the Book Tree Press, Lucy Roscoe, brings a body of new work to Edinburgh’s Broughton Deli. The Beach House is the tenth in a specially curated series by Nicola Brooks and fills the space with delicate…

Smile

Feeble collection riffing off ill-conceived ideas

24 Aug 2011

Between the Spangles wrapper psychedelia of its poster to the feeble collection of art in the gallery, Smile does nothing to live up to its name. Riffing off ill-conceived ideas honed from (a misunderstanding of) the Fluxus movement and the writings of…

Interview: US artist Ingrid Calame

Transferring transfers marks and cracks from ground outside to gallery walls

3 Aug 2011

‘This is it!’ exclaims US artist Ingrid Calame, waving towards a radiant tabletop awash with transparent sacks of bright pigments, a sea of reds, pinks, blues and greens. She’s referring to a new drawing based on tracings plucked from the cement…

The Northern Renaissance: Dürer to Holbein

Compendium of works inspired by the Renaissance innovator

3 Aug 2011

There’s something of an inky-fingered Dürer overload in the ‘burgh just now. Following on from Dürer’s Fame over at the National Galleries, this 16th century compendium of more than 100 works uses his output as a springboard for the burgeoning of…

Michelle Hannah: Who Wants to Live Forever

Prints and paintings based on Highlander film and Queen soundtrack

14 Jun 2011

Can God create a rock so heavy that even God himself cannot lift it? If so, then the rock is now unliftable, limiting God’s power. But if not, then God is not omnipotent because he cannot create that rock. The work of Michelle Hannah is concerned…

Scottish artists Alberto Morrocco, William Littlejohn and David McClure feature in Kinblethmont Gallery exhibition

14 Apr 2011

The artists Alberto Morrocco, William Littlejohn and David McClure were all contemporaries who painted in distinct modern styles influenced both by European painting and the Scottish tradition epitomised by the Scottish colourists. Much acclaimed in…

A Drawback

16 Aug 2010

The phenomenon of drawing has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, with many artists now returning to producing, exhibiting and selling contemporary drawings. This exhibition by Perennial Art celebrates the diversity and richness of the practice and…

Simon Yuill: Fields, Factories and Workshops

3 Aug 2010

Neil Cooper talks to Simon Yuill, whose solo exhibition explores the relationship between space, community and politics...

Hat Trick: Recoat Third Birthday Exhibition

Glasgow gallery's third birthday brings artists from all over Europe

3 Aug 2010

Break out the candles and streamers – Recoat, those West Coast specialists in illustration, street art, graffiti and photography have hit another milestone. To mark the gallery’s third birthday, artists from Poland, Belgium, germany and England…

ECA and GSA Degree Shows 2010

9 Jun 2010

As Glasgow and Edinburgh prepare to showcase their finest outgoing talent with their much anticipated degree shows, Talitha Kotzé meets some of the makers

Affordable Art: Getting Started - Hugo Brown

29 Apr 2010

Buying and owning art can bring both pleasure and profit, and you don’t need stacks of cash to get started. We begin our guide with some tips from an established collector...

The End of the Line: Attitudes in Drawing

29 Oct 2009

Time was when the only thing artists drew was the dole. With a return to the dark ages of Tory government imminent, the halcyon days of the unofficial fortnightly grant that allowed an entire generation of Thatcher’s children to explore their creativity…

Hitlist: Visual art

The fortnight's most fascinating artworks and exhibitions

15 Oct 2009

Running Time, Taking Liberties: John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins, David Austen: My love, I have been digging up my own bones in the garden again, Torsten Lauschmann: The Darker Ages, Charlie Hammond: The New Improvement Scheme, Lara Favaretto, An Entangled Bank

First Word: David Shrigley

The artist talks about 80s music, pumpkins, and the joys of being tall

2 Oct 2009

First record you ever bought ‘Einstein A Go-Go’ by Landscape on 7” single. It was a big hit in 1981. Last time you were chatted up Most of the time I don’t even realise I’m being chatted up – so it could have been recently. First film you…

Alex Dordoy: Winner

A metaphysical battle of paint versus reality

1 Oct 2009

There is something of a painting coup d’état happening here: an insistent need for paint to overthrow and overwrite objects, for objects to be perceived first and foremost through the physical medium of liquid substances – as if the artist sees paint…

Lilah Fowler: In Time

Techno-utopian triumph, or merely decoration?

1 Oct 2009

There are plenty of faddy terms to be bandied about in response to Fowler’s exhibition of sleek minimalist sculptures and wall drawings – neo-geo, retro-futuristic or techno-utopian, to name but a few. But essentially, these rather lovely works are all…

Agnes Martin (part of Artist Rooms)

The Canadian-American artist's later works offer calm reflection

3 Sep 2009

A late addition to the Artist Rooms series is a room of eight paintings by the Canadian-American artist Agnes Martin. The exhibition features late works, dating from 1994–2002, when Martin was in her late 80s and no longer able to manipulate the…

Visual Art Hitlist

Our pick of the week's exhibitions

14 Aug 2009

Self-Made Cavalcade, Milestone, Jane and Louise Wilson: Unfolding the Aryan Papers, The Creative World of Alan Davie, The Enlightenments, The Discovery of Spain, Eva Hesse: Studiowork

Emergent Artists - Glasgow School of Art

13 Aug 2009

Four years ago, the exhibitions department at the Glasgow School of Art initiated a programme to support early career artists based in Glasgow. Selected artists are given the opportunity to exhibit new work in one of the beautiful high ceiling studios…

5 Questions for Go Reborn

13 Aug 2009

Five things to see and buy at go reborn A rotating showcase of work by Scottish artists, designers, writers and fashionistas. A temporary pop-up Godiva shop taking the best of designers and newcomers from Godiva Boutique. Furniture that charts…

Not set in stone: sculpture at the Festival

Talitha Kotzé explores the nature and appeal of the form

24 Jul 2009

An unofficial but recurring thread in this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival programme is sculpture. That is not to say traditionally moulded or contemporarily modulated, but sculpture in its broadest sense. It ranges from new work by the Wilson sisters to…

In the frame: Edinburgh Art Festival

28 May 2009

Never one to be outshone by its more established August counterparts, the Edinburgh Art Festival has announced a roster of talent, with major exhibitions from world-renowned artists, as well as an extraordinary programme of sculpture work, at over 50…

Lest Bogles Catch Him Unawares: Elph versus Robert Burns

28 May 2009

Back-street dives in concrete jungles have long been the preserve of graffiti art, where sprayed-on masterpieces can liven up the breeze-block one day, only to be whitewashed over the next. Such, alas, is the ephemeral, fly-by-night nature of the pop…

Will Barras and Rue Five: Crystal is the New Wolf

28 May 2009

Tucked away near the Woodside Social, Recoat’s bizarrely titled two-man show presents an intriguing twist on street art. Featuring work by London-based designer and illustrator Will Barras and Stirling’s Rue Five, the exhibition includes a large-scale…

Two Horizons: Works from the Collections of Charles Asprey and Alexander Schrôder (Group Show)

16 Apr 2009

While the National Gallery of Modern Art’s Artist Rooms generates the hype, a smaller exhibition quietly sits upstairs awaiting discovery. Two Horizons consists of works from two private collections, those of Charles Asprey and Alexander Schröder. The…

Neil Clements: Built. Lacking.

2 Apr 2009

While primarily known as a painter, whose shaped canvases based on the designs of classic rock guitars were shown at DCA last year, Neil Clements’ new series of works for Edinburgh’s doggerfisher has required him to adapt his usual working methods. ‘I…