Witches, Unluck and Elephants: This Week in Scottish Art
Gray's School of Art gets its degree show underway, there are new exhibitions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, plus the chance to see some "devotional fetish-objects" – get all the details in our Scottish art round-up.
In the world of degree shows, it seems when one door closes another opens. Beginning on the final day of the Glasgow School of Art degree show (which continues this week), Gray’s School of Art presents the work of its final year students across art, design and architecture from this Saturday (20 Jun). For those travelling to Aberdeen for the show, also opening this Saturday is the latest show from the Suttie Arts Space, located inside the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Emerging artists Hannah Imlach and Sam Dransfield each respond to the Foresthill site where the Suttie Art Space is located. Imlach addresses the site by looking towards questions of sustainable agriculture via folded perspex and plywood, and Dransfield explores tourism within the Foresthill context and “pre-mediated journeys”, and more specifically the transportation routes of granite from Chinese quarries to Scotland. The show continues until 30 August.
Coming down from Aberdeen to the week ahead in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh, there are two events in Glasgow's CCA this Thursday. First, Fatoş Üstek leads a “meet the curator” event, discussing the acclaimed Fig-2 programme, and inviting proposals from students from all subjects. The talk begins at 4pm.
Later in the evening, again as part of the Fig-2 Programme, Kathryn Elkin will present 'Mud', the companion performance piece to her new commission 'The Elephants in the Room'. For this latter film work, Elkin collaborates with artist Lucy Parker and two musicians in studio to create a series of improvised musical works. Beginning at 6:30pm, the two screenings will be followed by conversation between Elkin and the curators.
Elsewhere in Glasgow this Thursday, Douglas Morland previews 'The Death of Lady Mondegreen' in the Gallery of Modern Art. Morland works across a range of conventional and experimental media, and derives the title of the exhibition itself from a misheard song lyric in order to continue his exploration of “the poetic space between the transmission and reception of information".
DCA's Maripol exhibition comes to a close this weekend
In Dundee Contemporary Arts this week, as well as their annual Crafted market of craftmakers this Saturday (20 Jun, 12-5pm), this is the final week of the gallery's Spring/Summer 2015 exhibition, combining the work of iconic stylist and photographer Maripol with young artists Zoe Williams and Claire Stephenson.
Staying in Dundee for the moment, Generator Projects this Saturday preview the work of Jonathan Spy. Titled 'Void', the show will set up “a place of despair” in trying to answer the “big questions” about life after death and the infinity of time. Creating a metaphor for this psychological space, Spy exhibits work inspired by structures within physics which light enters, but from which it is not emitted. Saturday’s preview event begins at 7pm; the show continues from 21-23 Jun.
In Edinburgh on Saturday from 4pm, Rhubaba will open their new exhibition 'Unluck', by Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeau. Through a series of interviews and collaborations, Kersaint Giraudau looks closely at the meaning of luck, across “faith, myth, folklore, language and neuropsychological activity”.
In Glasgow Print Studios, new exhibition Coalesce continues this week, running until 28 June. Nine recent Scottish art school graduates working across sculpture, painting and print show disparate work which nevertheless shares an interest in exploring “modernism, mark making and materials.”
Also continuing, right next door to the Glasgow Print Studios, is Transmission’s solo exhibition of the work of Johannes Paul Raether. During normal gallery hours, Transmission is currently “incubating a number of devotional fetish-objects”, which tie in with the cyber-fictional mythology of the different characters created by Raether. Unfortunately this weekend's concluding event in Arran is sold out, but it is still possible to add your name to the waiting list, and there are places available for Wednesday's Govan Geopathology walk.