Inspiration, Classical Art, and Getting Paid: This Week in Scottish Art
In this week's art news, there's a curator's job going in Edinburgh, Open House consumes Glasgow whole this long weekend, and there's a grilling of Glasgow politicians on the thorny issue of getting artists paid.
All talented curators under 30 please take note – there is an opening for an assistant curator for the TANK space within Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. The job description is available here, along with more details on what you'll be getting up to. Applications are to be received by Wed 12 May.
Meanwhile in Dundee, the McManus Gallery hosts an exhibition on Classical Art to accompany their main exhibition, the touring British Museum show Roman Empire: Power and People. Classical Art: The Legacy of the Ancients “illustrates the enduring influence of ancient Greek and Roman culture” with many examples from Dundee’s collection of fine art. The exhibitions continue until Sunday 10 May.
On to more time-sensitive reminders – tonight the Visual Artists’ Unit host their second series of discussion events with artists. This time around, Graham Fagen, Rachel Maclean, Ade Adesine and Catherine Ross will address “inspiration” as their theme. Hear about their respective muses tonight (Tue 28 Apr) from 6.30pm at the Drygate Brewery in Glasgow. Tickets can be acquired here for £3.90 (that’s with a booking fee).
Moving to tomorrow, the current GSA MFA cohort launch their print portfolio, which may be purchased here. As well as the soon-to-graduate students’ work, this year’s edition features works from former students Laura Aldridge and Ross Sinclair. Starting at 6pm, the launch of the portfolio will take place in Glasgow’s Citizen M.
Continuing at the Briggait in Glasgow is Clive A Brandon’s Travelogue. After travelling across Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and the Shetland Isles, Brandon presents work from “a bricolage of material and imagery the experiences of each residency into a visual notebook”. The show runs until 5 June.
Also launching on Friday is Glasgow Open House, with work from over 200 artists being shown over the long weekend. For more information, take a look at our chat with festival director Laura Campbell, and also visit the Project Cafe where there will be helpful assistance in the form of lovely volunteers.
Inventors of Tradition II opens also this Friday. Artist Lucy McKenzie and designer Beca Lipscombe present a social historical exploration of style, while elsewhere in The Palace of Art in Bellahouston Park as part of this project there is a retail space in which they present their fashion collection as Atelier EB.
In Edinburgh this Friday, from 6pm, Nicolas Party will unveil his latest painterly occupation, this time in Inverleith House. With murals up and down the walls of every space, Party will also exhibit his idiosyncratic style of landscapes, still life and portraiture. The exhibition continues until 21 June – this Sunday from 2-3pm, Party will deliver a tour of the exhibition.
As a moment of political reflection, on Saturday from 2-4pm at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios, the (too-often invisible) matter of paying artists will be discussed. The Cultural Hustings event will feature local arts representatives, as well as candidates from each of the main political parties. Free tickets are available here.
Also from this Saturday, Glasgow's Street Level Photoworks will be showing the work of Maud Sulter (1960-2008). Sulter was an award-winning writer, artist and curator. Active in the Black feminist and lesbian movements, Sulter not only tended a multilayered and critically acclaimed art practice but founded Urban Fox Press, "a revolutionary new press for the more radical 90s", and a London gallery, Rich Women of Zurich. On Saturday there will be an exhibition tour and talk at 2pm, followed by a reception at 3pm with contributions from artists and art history lecturers. The exhibition itself runs until 21 June.
Less remunerative than the first item, but just as exciting, the line up for British Art Show 8 has been released. Starting off in Leeds this October, BAS 8 comes to Edinburgh in February 2016. We end this week’s art news with an unwieldy list; the full run-down of who's set to feature in BAS 8.
British Art Show 8 line up: Åbäke, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Caroline Achaintre, John Akomfrah and Trevor Mathison, Aaron Angell, Pablo Bronstein, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Andrea Büttner, Alexandre da Cunha, Nicolas Deshayes, Benedict Drew, Simon Fujiwara, Martino Gamper, Ryan Gander, Melanie Gilligan, Anthea Hamilton, Will Holder, Alan Kane, Mikhail Karikis, Linder, Rachel Maclean, Ahmet Öğüt, Yuri Pattison, Ciara Phillips, Charlotte Prodger, Laure Prouvost, Magali Reus, James Richards, Eileen Simpson and Ben White, Daniel Sinsel, Cally Spooner, Patrick Staff, Imogen Stidworthy, Hayley Tompkins, Troy Town Art Pottery, Jessica Warboys, Stuart Whipps, Bedwyr Williams, Jesse Wine, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye