There Will Be New Rules Next Week @ DCA, until 23 Sep

Review by Katie Rice | 10 Sep 2013

Running in conjunction with the first ever Print Festival Scotland, There Will Be New Rules Next Week celebrates all things print. The show centres around Sister Corita Kent, alongside five contemporary artists who have taken inspiration from her life's work: Peter Davies, Ruth Ewan, Emily Floyd, Scott Myles and Ciara Phillips.

As one of the most inspirational pop artists of the 1960s Kent may seem an unlikely candidate, but during her time as a nun and educator of the arts she was a political and religious rebel. She taught at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles for over twenty years, organising festivals, ambitious art installations and street protests. Her work is vibrant and playful and is recognised as some of the most joyful art to come out of America at that time.

There is a definite celebratory atmosphere running through the two gallery rooms of the DCA, which are filled with bright colours and powerful imagery from all six artists. Phillips, who has previously exhibited alongside Kent, debuts a spectacular new artwork created specially for this exhibition, A Lot of Things Put Together. Standing at over five metres tall this printed cotton panel was inspired by the May Day parades of the IHC, and is comparable to a paused film projection of those very parades.

Peter Davies takes a different approach with Why is British Art So Crap (2006), a critique on earlier artists’ styles and successes which stands out as both satirical and despondent. Davies, however, is the exception to the rule here, and the exhibition is a truly joyful and educational experience throughout. [Katie Rice]

http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/there-will-be-new-rules-next-week.html