Visual art and Reviews

Tom Phillips - Word and image

15 Nov 2007

In 1966 the artist Tom Phillips went on a shopping expedition in Peckham, casually looking for a book to play with and adapt. Chance led him to a copy of WH Mallock’s A Human Document, an obscure and relatively forgotten Victorian novel, which the…

Peter Blake: Venice

Poptabulous exhibition of screenprints inspired by La Dominante

21 Jul 2009

When Art went POP!, Peter Blake defined a very British view of how the 60s swung. Collaging trash iconography with pop star royalty, all involved were bestowed with mutually acquired cult credibility. Forty-odd years on from Sergeant Pepper, the…

Jonathan Monk

8 May 2008

INSTALLATION, SCULPTURE, PAINTING Tramway, Glasgow, until Sun 18 May ‘Something No Less Important Than Nothing’ and ‘Nothing No Less Important Than Something’ are the first Scottish shows by Jonathan Monk in a decade, though actually it’s the same…

Chicks on Speed: Don’t Art, Fashion, Music

16 Jun 2010

‘CREATE UNDER ALL DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES’ is one of the slogans on the large-scale banners that adorn the walls of globe-spanning riot grrrl art provocateurs Chicks on Speed’s first major UK solo show. A large-scale projection of ‘Fashion Archive’, a…

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…

Jo Spence: Self Portraits

19 Jun 2008

PHOTOGRAPHY Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 16 Nov Working class artist, photographer, Marxist, feminist, teacher and publisher Jo Spence was an extraordinary talent. Issue-based but always accessible, her work can be seen as the progenitor…

David Mach: Precious Light

Edinburgh Art Festival exhibition of biblical proportions by Fife-born artist

5 Aug 2011

Without doubt, Methil-born artist David Mach’s work ‘Golgotha’ will stand out as the defining image from the artistic strand of this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Three enormous figures of threaded steel nailed to metallic crosses, which take up the entire…

Jimmie Durham: Universal Miniature Golf (The Promised Land)

4 May 2010

American sculptor, Jimmie Durham, is concerned with the politics of materials and deliberately works in a craft-like way at a time when it is seen as unsophisticated, folky and crude to make things by hand. He responds to his location by collecting raw…

Artist Rooms: Joseph Beuys

15 Apr 2010

This exhibition of work by postwar German artist Joseph Beuys features a selection from the ‘Braunkreuz’ series: drawings, the legendary fat chair, and his objects in vitrines. Beuys’ signatory mediums of felt, fat and copper, chosen for their…

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…

Hitlist - Visual Art

11 Dec 2008

● Charles Avery, The Island: An Introduction A visually arresting, provocative and playful introduction to Avery’s ongoing project, charting the creatures, topology and cosmology of an imaginary island. Highly recommended. See review, page 104. Scottish…

Gerhard Richter: Paintings from Private Collections

27 Nov 2008

PAINTING The literature accompanying this show sets the bar high: ‘One of the greatest and most influential European artists of the last 50 years’. Whoever chose those words wasn’t wrong. This first retrospective in the UK for 20 years of Gerhard…

Joan Eardley

4 Jan 2008

PAINTING Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until Sun 13 Jan The peculiar psychology which leads many notable artists’ works to only truly be appreciated after they have died is hard to explain, with the premature passing of an artist lending an…

Hidden City

Edinburgh Printmakers members’ show a mixed bag

9 Dec 2011

In compiling their latest, largest annual members’ show, Edinburgh Printmakers have imposed an unwitting watermark of quality with their decision to give it a theme. ‘Edinburgh Uncovered’ is the subtitle, and the collection claims to offer ‘an intimate…

John Bellany’s: A Celtic Voyage

Cramped but impressive selection of works by Scottish artist

24 Aug 2009

Scottish painter John Bellany’s East Coast hometown of Port Seton, a small seafaring community where fishing was a way of life and Calvinism blew fear through the streets, informs the artist’s oeuvre. Fish, gannets, swans, playing cards and boats…

Milestone

Provocative exhibition accompanying a live stone-carving project

6 Aug 2009

Entering the quad of the Edinburgh College of Art feels a bit like discovering yet another ill-placed tram construction site. The air is full of the drone of power tools, and dust clouds settle in your hair and mouth. Milestone is an unconventional…

Karla Black - Material world

5 Feb 2009

REVIEW SCULPTURE The perfect storm of grease, dust and cotton wool towelled onto the floor and hanging from ceiling tiles that forms the bulk of Karla Black’s show is something of an assault to eyes not used to squalor. The natural urge is to tidy…

Alasdair Gray

24 Apr 2008

Sometimes it’s more fun to ignore the explanatory gallery text and have a good look at the work. This seems an obvious enough way of dealing with art objects, but usually makes for lazy viewing and reviewing on the part of the critic. But it is…

Scott Myles: This Production

Dundee artist and former skater reclaims DCA building’s interior

23 May 2012

It makes sense that the site of DCA used to be Scott Myles’ playground. Back then he was a skater boy and it was a bricks-and-mortar garage re-imagined as the sort of makeshift skate-park for local heroes and future high-flyers, which, under the…

Edvard Munch: Graphic Works from the Gunderson Collection

Extended introduction to troubled Norwegian painter

23 May 2012

Perhaps the greatest surprise for casual viewers of this high-profile new exhibition from the Scottish National Galleries is the discovery that Norwegian painter Edvard Munch had a whole catalogue of work besides ‘The Scream’. One of the most famous…

Paul Thek: If you don’t like this book you don’t like me

Candid close-up of Brooklyn-born painter and sculptor

23 May 2012

‘I will now call to mind our past foulness and the carnal corruptions of my soul’ goes one missive culled from the now opened pages of almost a hundred notebooks left behind by Brooklyn-born painter and sculptor Thek, which came to light following his…

What Presence! – The Rock Photography of Harry Papadopoulos

Stunning exhibition of post-punk music photography

19 Dec 2011

Harry Papadopoulos is the great unsung documenter of post-punk, who, between 1978 and 1984, captured a crucial era in pop history in all its geeky glory. Having started out taking snaps for Bobby Bluebell’s fanzine, The Ten Commandments, and orbiting…

The Writing On Your Wall

Rob Tufnell-curated group show chronicling the history of radical print

28 Oct 2011

When Jeremy Deller put Rupert Murdoch’s walnut face on a sky-blue ‘Vote Conservative’ poster to raise funds for the Labour Party, it looked like satire. Given the ongoing phone-hacking saga, it now feels like prophecy. The ‘Murdoch Doesn’t Give A XXX…

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Lightning Fields and Photogenic Drawings

Breathtaking exploration of both photography and science

25 Aug 2011

To say that Sugimoto's contribution to the Edinburgh International Festival is striking would be an understatement. This is the first time these works have been displayed in Europe. The Japanese photography pioneer’s huge analogue 'Lightning Fields…

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…

Martin Boyce: Night terrace – lantern chains – forgotten seas – sky

Sculpture exhibition from the Glasgow-based Turner Prize nominee

27 May 2011

Triggered by fragments of colliding locations, a set of objects and textures in low light convey a dislocated landscape. Rust drips down like tears of blood from obsolete steel park benches. Table top surfaces and hanging wall panels are covered with…

Subodh Gupta: Take off your shoes and wash your hands

Collection of splendid things by Indian art superstar explores changing cultural life of India

3 Nov 2010

Coinciding with the handover of the Commonwealth Games from Delhi to Glasgow, Tramway is showcasing a magpie collection of splendid shiny things by Indian art superstar Subodh Gupta. Take off your shoes and wash your hands consists of four works.

Karla Black: Sculptures

19 Nov 2009

While these new sculptures comprise Karla Black’s now familiar array of nebulous materials – chalk dust, eye shadow, sugar paper – they command a more distinct level of authority than has previously been seen. Her impermanent sculptures transcend…

Hello Sailor! Gay Life On The Ocean Wave

Documenting the lives of Britain's hidden homosexual seafarers

17 Sep 2009

An attractive, light-hearted exhibition revealing a hidden side of the Merchant Navy from the 1950s to the 1980s, when young sailors reported for duty as competent crew members during the day and dressed up as Broadway stars by night. Hello Sailor! Gay…

Scottish Paintings: Old Masters to Contemporary

Great works undermined by staid and debilitating presentation

26 Aug 2009

This closed and muted historical survey covers a time span of around 400 years and reaches from the dark, still-life ages of William Gow Ferguson in 1632, to the rarely exciting contemporary abstract paintings of Callum Innes. Chronicling Scottish…

The Creative World of Alan Davie

Remarkable mix of the dark and the sublime from much-loved Scottish artist

8 Aug 2009

Saxophonist and journeyman translucent Alan Davie is surely one of Scotland’s greatest living artists. At almost 90 years old it’s remarkable to think that this is the first exhibition of his work to embrace the breadth of his output in painting…

This is Now: From Drawing to Contexture

Well-stocked ragbag from a new wave of textile artists

6 Aug 2009

The first impact of this show, and the most enduring, is the overwhelming urge to touch. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the artworks are more tactile than, say, a series of oil paintings.

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…

Return of the Soul - The Nakbah Project

A secret persecution preserved in wax

14 Aug 2008

Scottish based painter, theatre designer and now multimedia artist Jane Frere revisits the Nakbah, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people in 1948 when the newly UN-sanctioned nation of Israel expropriated ‘lebensraum’ (living room) through…

Louise Bourgeois: Nature Study

5 Jun 2008

PAINTING, SCULPTURE Inverleith House, Edinburgh, until Sun 6 Jul It’s a weekday lunchtime in spring and the Royal Botanic Garden is teeming with new life. Mothers push buggies, primary school children dig into the earth and the plants are a riot of…

David Shrigley

27 Jul 2006

Where the obtuse beauty of David Shrigley's drawings is in their rudimentary nature - they could be the doodles of an actively imaginative and possibly psychotic primary school child - this selection of engravings and woodcut prints suffers for a not…

Callum Innes - Works on Paper 1989–2012

Demonstrates tension, richness and depth already familiar in Innes’ paintings

23 May 2012

Callum Innes’ explorations of material processes are well demonstrated in this first exhibition dedicated to his works on paper. Abstract images of colour familiar from his paintings on canvas fill the space, each one creating particular tensions…

Karla Black

'Giant tiramisu' is breathtaking and ludicrous in equal measure

25 Apr 2012

Between Karla Black’s work and its viewer, the tension is unbearable. Rarely can inert sculptural work have exerted such a gravitational pull upon its audience, and the effect of ‘art vertigo’ it inspires just can’t be understood unless it’s seen live.

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…

Gary Rough - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. . .

Meshing of conceptual ideas that leaves no lasting impression

16 Sep 2011

Running at Sorcha Dallas for the next month is Gary Rough’s latest Glasgow exhibition Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc..., a meshing of two conceptual ideas, the ongoing collection of 1,984 copies of George Orwell’s classic, 1984, and the attempted…

Dürer’s Fame

Tribute to the German woodcut and engravings master Albrecht Durer

21 Jul 2011

German handball star Pascal Hens gazes out from a black-and-white poster, his torso naked, gaze serious, his pose one of self-deification. This is enhanced further by a tattoo on his stomach of two disembodied hands clasped together as if in prayer.

Gravity's Rainbow

Pynchon-inspired group show explores different representations of colour

21 Jul 2011

The acid house smiley face on the sunny yellow ball of Peter Liversidge’s shelf-load of single-hued detritus speaks volumes about this colour-focused group show of eight artists that takes its title from Thomas Pynchon’s baroque noir. It begins with a…

New Work Scotland Programme: Nicolas Party & Catherine Payton

A series of site-specific works from two very different artists

14 Jan 2011

For the second instalment of the New Work Scotland Programme, artists Nicolas Party and Catherine Payton provide the Collective with a series of site-specific works. However, this manipulation of the gallery space is where the similarity between the…

Alasdair Gray: Gray Stuff

Murals, posters, books and doodles from Glasgow polymath artist

15 Nov 2010

Alasdair Gray is the very definition of a polymath, and Gray Stuff is a loving testament to his industry and curiosity. The artist’s murals, theatre posters, books and doodles fill the gallery space at Talbot Rice, despite being of rather small…

Portrait of the Nation explores work by and of famous Scots

Exhibition contains portraiture from Henry Raeburn and David Wilkie

3 Nov 2010

During the refurbishment of Edinburgh’s National Portrait Gallery, some of the permanent collection has found a temporary home in the National Galleries building on the Mound. The exhibition explores work by and of famous Scots, resulting in a blend of…

Edward Weston: Life Work and William Wegman: Family Combinations

A pair of fascinating photography exhibitions for the price of one

12 Aug 2010

These two fascinating exhibitions by two very different photographers challenge John Steinbeck’s belief that cameras should be disparaged because ‘they are so much more sure than I am about everything.’ Weston was the natural, a pioneer and a comrade…

Spring Exhibition 2010

15 Apr 2010

Edinburgh’s newest gallery’s spring exhibition presents an outstanding selection of work by Scottish-based artists as well as one or two pieces from future exhibitors that contrast and complement their neighbours. The show encompasses a range of work…

Laura Aldridge: Cats Are Not Important

19 Mar 2010

You cannot view this exhibition in any other way than through the lens created by its title: Cats Are Not Important. Glasgow-based, ex-Transmission gallery committee member Laura Aldridge exhibits knot-tied sculptures in pastel hues arranged against…

Cycling Up the Hill with My Dad

9 Jul 2009

MIXED MEDIA This father and daughter exhibition features ceramics by David Heminsley and textiles by Claire Heminsley. The pair undertook a cycling trip together in order to start planning their joint exhibition. Intended as a contemporary show with…