Print the Legend - The Myth of The West

For this grand Fruitmarket exhibition curator Patricia Bickers has brought together a truly stellar cast to explore her personal preoccupation with the Western. While the starting point is the filmic genre, the true line of argument lies in the notion of the West as myth in the collective psyche, specifically in the hearts and minds of those of North European origin. We are presented with an array of works by artists of the aforementioned origin, all of which explore or allude to the magical, adventuresome Wild West, a frontier land of danger and intrigue which grew up in the tall tales, dime novels and ultimately films created long after the west was won. Underlying is the idea (and the clue is in the title) that this is a myth, one which resonates particularly strongly in this far removed continent from which the majority of the settlers derived. Dreams of a new world, a new start, in essence of a life unconstrained by society and the law play across these works of disparate method and formulation, communicating of and with a modern world longing to rip it up and start again.

The first work with which we are confronted upon entering the gallery space evokes this notion with a sublime efficiency. Adam Chodzko's "Better Scenery" photographic diptych creates a narrative link between the disparate landscapes of the North London supermarket car park and the Arizona desert. Chodzko created then photographed twin signs, each bedecked with a solitary wind chime, upon which he printed directions for reaching the complimentary point. So, in the Arizona desert stands a sign describing how to negotiate the urban sprawl, lines of Laser Eye Clinics, tarmac, unmarked roads, the brief grace of the "curvature of the prodigious concrete and glass O2 building" all adding up to a somewhat ironic play on the notion of Better Scenery. In the grim British car park stands, in contrast, a supremely evocative set of instructions inciting the viewer to meander through the desert, a web of rough cinder tracks, volcanic formations and magical names like Merriam Crater and the Painted Desert. To come across the sign on a grey day, laden with shopping, must surely and succinctly conjure the allure of the western other, creating a longing for the hypothetical prairie sun, the open road, the role of the solitary wanderer. By setting up the contrast and ensuing dialogue between these physical and spiritual opposites, Chodzko neatly introduces the viewer to the question of the Western as an integral part of our collective psyche.

Other works in the show interact more specifically with the Western film genre. Douglas Gordon's Five Year Drive-By (The Searchers) is projected on Market Street on a vast screen, visible only in the hours of darkness, while within the gallery two TV screens play the film, one in real time and one in synchronicity with the projection for the benefit of daytime viewers. For this work Gordon has slowed down the John Ford movie The Searchers so that its duration is now five years, mimicking that of the protagonist's quest within the film. Each frame lasts around 23 minutes, creating a slow-burning public artwork which should, given the necessary time, become a part of the Edinburgh cityscape. Unfortunately the work is only on display for the duration of the exhibition, a mere three months, which may not be enough time to truly integrate the slow, technicolour progression into the fabric of the Edinburgher's daily life. Without public investment it remains impossible for the gallery to continue the projection after the exhibition, which seems a bit of a waste.

Amidst the household names of Gordon, Mike Nelson, Gillian Wearing et al, Salla Tykka's short film Lasso holds its own and perhaps even outshines. This perfect vignette, set to the swelling orchestra of Morricone's score for Once Upon A Time in The West, leaves the viewer entranced and inexorably moved by both the music and the apparently simple narrative of a girl in the frozen north peering in a window to witness a teenage boy engrossed in a lasso-driven workout-cum-dance. The accoutrements of his exercise make evident reference to the notion of the west, his youthful dreams of being a cowboy contained within the living room of a bungalow in a drab north European town. Simultaneously, this brief narrative conveys to us a sexual awakening, a beginning and also an end mirrored in the melting snow which lies upon the surrounding earth. Utterly absorbing, the work is a joy to witness.

Each of the many works on display contains something to absorb, coming together under a uniquely present curatorial voice to form a technicolour line of argument, a musing upon the presence of this particular myth of the other in our seemingly far-removed world. The exhibition both challenges our preconceptions of the significance of the Western as genre, and brings to Edinburgh a truly world class selection of artworks. It is truly something to ponder.