Art Highlights – November 2014
From Easterhouse to Inverleith House: This Month in Scottish Art, there's a variety of exhibitions and events from young to well-established artists across Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow
Scottish painter Christopher Orr will receive his first solo show in his home country this month at the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh. Orr is a well-known, successful artist whose work comes from his experimental arrangement of images from his vast collection of National Geographics, scientific manuals and art historical images. Working with projection and collage, the exhibit will also include Orr’s sketchbooks, which have never before been exhibited. Keep an eye on The Skinny for an interview with Orr.
Renowned American artist Jim Campbell is bringing his immersive light installations to Dundee Contemporary Arts, with an exhibit open from 22 November. Campbell translates films of everyday actions like commuters walking or birds taking flight into large light sculptures. One of the works on show uses several lights and text to construct a fictional recounting of the last day of the artist’s brother’s life. Working with an efficient economy of information and detail, the work is evocative with bare means.
Coming from one of Glasgow’s most exciting institutions, the Women’s Library’s exhibition 21 Revolutions will find its latest configuration in Platform in Easterhouse. As a celebration of its 21st birthday the Glasgow Women’s Library commissioned 42 internationally renowned women artists and writers to create new works inspired by the GWL’s collection, including Corin Sworn, Karla Black and Ciara Philips.
Again in Glasgow, but this time across the city, Kate V Robertson will install her audio art project converse from November 8-16. converse will be located across sites that correspond to the recent events of the referendum and the Commonwealth Games. Physically-speaking, converse will take the form of twin speakers slung over telephone wires, playing recordings taken from conversations and the Commonwealth Games. A full archive of the tracks and map of the locations can be accessed here. converse will be launched on Saturday 8 November at South Block, 4-6pm.
And across the road from one of the converse works, on Dixon Street in Mary Mary from 15 November Chicago-based painter Jonathan Gardner will exhibit in the UK for the first time. His stylised domestic sized work focuses on representational and figurative imagery. However, there’s a broad field of interpretation that would be more conventional for abstract painting. The exhibition preview will take place on Saturday 15 November 6-9pm, and the exhibition will be open until 15 January.
During November and December in Inverleith House, there will be events taking place to accompany Tony Conrad’s exhibition. Conrad’s highly influential and experimental work spans from the second half of the 20th century and across avant-garde music and film. In Inverleith House, Conrad will present for the first time in the UK the musical instruments he has made. On Sunday 9 November at midday there will be a drinks reception, after which Conrad will play some of his invented instruments. For details of other events, see here.
Back in Glasgow, also continuing through November, the fruits of the Art Fund will be on display in the Gallery of Modern Art. This Fund has allowed regional museums otherwise unavailable opportunities to purchase works from important international artists. Art from Elsewhere now on in the Gallery of Modern Art, is a touring exhibition that will travel across the UK. In Glasgow, among the artists featured are Kara Walker, Ana Mendieta and Amar Kanwar.