Amber Roome - Group Show 2006 Review

a fine showcase for this exciting wee gallery

Review by Jay Shukla | 13 Oct 2006

As Amber Roome approaches its second birthday, the gallery has organised a diverse group show in order to celebrate their continuing promotion of emerging young talent. Jackie Anderson's Morning is a minimal and understated work in oils which masterfully conveys the woozy sense of disturbance that accompanies one's emergence from the chrysalis of sleep. The ambiguous look on the subject's face is spot on, and the delicate use of white expanse is evidence of Anderson's mature and refined technique. Patti Yuill's portrait, Johnny III, is equally deft, the artist simulating the glitches and faults that are inherent to visual memory by obliterating areas of her charcoal portrait with swathes of white paint. This is an elegant and powerful work which rewards the viewers attention. James Lumsden's Interplay (4) is an intriguing piece which layers bands of blank canvas, black tone and what appears to be a skyscape in order to create an image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, depending on how one views the work. Not all the pieces are this strong however; Sophie Mckay Knight's painting is too slight to work outside the context of its series – a fact which is brought home by the relative success of Clare Waddle's series of kitsch images which tackle themes of domesticity and modernity with wit and charm. An overall success, this show is a fine showcase for this exciting wee gallery. [Jay Shukla]

Amber Roome, Edinburgh until October 12. Free. http://www.amberroome.co.uk