Visual art and Previews

Preview of 2012 - Martin Creed: All the Bells

Turner Prize winner invites Brits to ring in the Olympics

6 Jan 2012

Controversial he may be but conceptual artist Martin Creed has always been brutally honest with the paying public. His most famous work to date, Work No. 227: the lights going on and off, did exactly what it said on the tin and helped the Glasgow-raised…

Interview: Kirsty Whiten

Breeder Badlands show at Edinburgh Printmakers

19 Dec 2011

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…

Gayle Chong-Kwan: The Obsidian Isle

The photographer talks about her latest exhibition, inspired by the blind third century poet Ossian

15 Nov 2011

The Obsidian Isle documents a fictional island on which exist Scotland’s lost and destroyed buildings and places. What inspired this? As part of a photography award I received in 2009 I had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Scotland. I…

Glasgay!: Re-Invention

Exhibition and workshop aimed at gay and trans comic fans

19 Sep 2011

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…

Central Station - Laurie Hastings

16 Sep 2011

Laurie Hastings is an illustrator and printmaker, striving to produce images that capture and communicate the imagery and narrative of a text. People are often central to the images Laurie creates: she enjoys conveying an emotion or a certain tension…

Interview: Jeremy Millar on exhibition Mystics or Rationalists?

Artist discusses his contribution to Ingleby Edinburgh Art Festival show

10 Aug 2011

How far do you agree with Sol LeWitt’s comment that ‘conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists’? I think I’d tend to agree: they’re certainly rather more mystics than rationalists. Art isn’t rational, but it can be mystical. What is…

Interview: Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan

Artists talk about The Indirect Exchange of Uncertain Value exhibition

3 Aug 2011

It sounds like the (thankfully unpublished) wheezy plotlines to one of Anthony Buckeridge’s Jennings... adventures. Posh Edinburgh private school – one time cradle to dastardly turncoat bullies – gets taken over by bohemian artists with a hidden agenda.

Precious Light - David Mach interview

Artist's first major Scottish exhibition in years at Edinburgh Art Festival 2011

6 Jul 2011

It’s just after 9am in Forest Hill in South London. The denizens of this leafy area have walked their children to school and boarded their commuter trains. In David Mach’s messy but unfussy two-floored studio, two handfuls of assistants and technicians…

Shadows of the Divine features works by John Bellany and John Byrne

A collection of modern religious art pieces at the New College gallery

27 May 2011

This selection of works of modern religious art includes work by a number of well-known artists including Scottish greats Craigie Aitchison, John Bellany, Peter Howson, Ken Currie and John Byrne as well as Graham Sutherland and Elisabeth Frink. These…

Festival of Museums set for nationwide celebration of Scotland’s culture in May 2011

Music, storytelling and period fashion among highlights of new festival

1 May 2011

From the Groam House Museum in Ross-shire and Portsoy Bothy in Banffshire, to the Annan Museum in Dumfries and Galloway, the Festival of Museums features an eclectic and colourful range of concerts, talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions taking…

Jupiter Artland opens its season with a new Charles Jencks exhibition

The ourdoor 'art park' also features work by Anthony Gormley

25 Apr 2011

You know that spring has sprung when Jupiter Artland opens its doors with a new season – and this year’s artistic bloom looks to be just as exciting as their last. Launching with special exhibition Metaphysical Landscape by landform artist, philosopher…

Robbie Thomson on Cryptic Nights project Inducer

Collaboration with Sarah Milne and Jack Wrigley

20 Apr 2011

What was the inspiration for your new project ‘Inducer’ with Sarah Milne and Jack Wrigley? ‘Inducer’ is an extension of our interest in experimental musical instrument design and an attempt to create a crude, mechanical form of electronic music.

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…

Interview - Janie Nicoll on returning to community arts festival Streetland

The Glasgow-based artist tells us why it matters

28 Mar 2011

At last year’s Streetland festival in Govanhill you could really feel the buzz: from the visual arts to the films and talks being created, worked on or looked at. I was creating artwork for the outside of a building on West Moreland Street but went…

Interview - Artist Shelly Nadashi

Glasgow Transmission show continues interest in puppet shows

21 Mar 2011

Your new installation continues your interest in puppet shows – how did that fascination come about? The first puppets’ performances I saw were in Hungary when I was traveling in 2000. They have some very authentic but contemporary puppetry there. I…

Jeremy Millar on new exhibition Resemblances, Sympathies and Other Acts

Celebrated artist on how the past informs his new exhibition

24 Feb 2011

Jeremy Millar has just been listening to PJ Harvey’s new album prior to talking about his forthcoming show at the CCA in Glasgow. Somehow the other-worldly, transcendent qualities of this most hypnotic of singer-songwriters fits in with Millar’s…

Fruitmarket fêted Jean-Marc Bustamante exhibition Dead Calm

Documentary snapshots of back roads and deserted Ballardian swimming pools

16 Feb 2011

As a large-scale exhibition of his work comes to the Fruitmarket fêted artist Jean-Marc Bustamante talks to Neil Cooper about his need to get out of the studio You won’t find many people in Jean-Marc Bustamante’s work. If you can see the wood for the…

Maximilian Zentz Zlomovitz: Rape Me

The new exhibition from Berlin-born artist’s exposes instinctive nature of work

11 Feb 2011

The work of German artist Maximilian Zentz Zlomovitz, says the press release accompanying his latest show in Glasgow, concerns itself at least partially with ‘the aesthetics of destruction’. It’s hard to ascertain from the limited contact The List has…

Rosemarie Trockel exhibition set for Edinburgh's Talbot Rice gallery

Major show from influential German contemporary of Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman

14 Jan 2011

Rosemarie Trockel’s creative output is as diverse as it is prolific. She is a highly regarded visual artist whose work has been showcased around the globe. In earlier years she teamed up with fellow feminist voices in Cologne to establish a…

Central Station - Anne Doble: Artinkulate

Intricacies with healthy Scottish/nautical flavour

14 Jan 2011

Anne Doble is a self-taught artist/designer-maker, running her own business, Artinkulate, from her home in Portknockie in the North East of Scotland. Prior to this she had a long career in retail management and latterly qualified as an anaesthetic…

National Galleries of Scotland to unveil collection of Jeff Koons' works in Artist Rooms

The American neo-pop artist's crazy career milestones

3 Jan 2011

As the National Galleries unveils the collection of Jeff Koons’ works in Artist Rooms, we consider some of the American neo-pop artist’s crazy career milestones 1: The Equilibrium Series The spiritual offspring of his idol Andy Warhol Koons first…

Sophie Macpherson solo show at Sorcha Dallas

The artist on her fascination with live performance

3 Jan 2011

You get the impression Sophie Macpherson likes to keep moving, both creatively and personally. This certainly seems to be the motivation behind the Aylesbury-born GSA-trained artist’s forthcoming solo show of texts, posters, a video and a 16-mm film at…

Lydia Corry and Caroline Walker: Love is an Ocular Sickness

Different approaches to exploring history of representing woman

23 Nov 2010

The symptoms of mental illness have often been used to describe the state of being in love. Plato discussed love as a serious mental disease. Lydia Corry and Caroline Walker established the concept of their show by rummaging through his writings on love…

Martin Campbell - Central Station

Glasgow artist's workshops encourage instinctive and quick decision making

23 Nov 2010

Originally from Benbecula in the Western Isles, Martin Campbell now lives in Glasgow and is currently in his final year of the product design course at Edinburgh College of Art. As part of his final year project he is looking at ways of getting people…

Childish Things explores surrealist use of childhood themes in art

Edinburgh Fruitmarket exhibition features works by Louise Bourgeois, Susan Hiller and Jeff Koons

15 Nov 2010

From St Paul’s assertion of adult intent to the Corinthians to Rousseau’s call for clemency towards its fundamental freedoms (‘childhood is the sleep of reason’), notions of childhood and childish behaviour have long fascinated and divided artists. To…