New Contemporaries 2012 @ RSA

Preview by Andrew Cattanach | 23 Feb 2012

It’s that time of year again, when the cream of last year’s graduation crop exhibit at the RSA New Contemporaries. It’s where the public is introduced to some of the best art graduates in Scotland, which in turn, gives the artists an insight into an art world outside of education.

Some of the top artists now exhibiting regularly in Scotland – and a few of those running art spaces around the country – showed for the first time at New Contemporaries after newly graduating. It’s an early sign of hope for many a nascent artist, not yet jaded by what might await them around the corner.

This year sees fifty-six graduates from a broad range of disciplines selected from the 2011 degree shows by a team of RSA Members and representatives of the six schools of architecture and five main colleges of art in Scotland. The show will take place across all 12 of the RSA galleries.

Among those on show will be Duncan of Jordanstone graduate Hannah Imlach who recently returned from a residency in Florence. Her degree show included a futuristic shelter, like the utopian imaginings of Buckminster-Fuller, photographed in the Scottish landscape, encouraging us to consider our relationship with, and impact on, the nature around us.

Since graduating last year, Rose Hendry has shown at film festivals across the UK, including Glasgow Short Film Festival. Her films are slick and sexy, often portraying women smoking cigarettes next to fried eggs – like a George Bataille film adaptation shot in the 1950s and with a dance music soundtrack added only just last week.

Without a doubt one the most exciting events on the Scottish arts calendar, this is one not to miss. Art doesn’t get much more contemporary than this. [Andrew Cattanach]

17 Mar-11 Apr, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm