Man of the Year @ CCA, until 26 Jan

Man of the Year at CCA brings together two excellent video artists: Glasgow-based Henry Coombes – perhaps one of the most interesting artists working in the country – and Spaniard Carles Congost.

Coombes’ video Two Discs and a Zed is a humorous look at the origins of art, with Coombes playing a Pictish cave painter who has seemingly reached a creative impasse. A cave-woman comes to the rescue, offering Coombes’ character a milky breast from which he drinks greedily. She then fastens him into a rotating device which gives him access to ‘visions.’ It’s an interesting look at how art, in all likelihood, has its roots in myth and ritual.

Congost’s latest film Paradigm is in every way dissimilar to Coombes’ Two Discs and a Zed. Set in a modern city, a policeman has pulled over a car that he is about to inspect. A man and what seems to be his son sit nervously in the front seats as the police officer goes round the back of the car, where he starts playing a mouth organ. Meanwhile, a choir of children start to sing. It’s strange and otherworldly, mixing cliché and the absurd to create a tense and humorous film.

Both artists supplement their filmmaking with painting, and too much space at the CCA is given over to their ‘secondary’ practices. Where Coombes’ paintings lack the humour of his films, Congost’s works on paper do not share the finesse of his videos. Lastly, one is left wondering what curatorial decision brought these two artists together in the same show. Both are interested in the role of the artist, and often show characters in the midst of the creative process, but that seems to be where the similarity ends. These are two excellent artists who deserve solo shows and being brought together in such a small gallery does neither artist justice. [Andrew Cattanach]