Gallery of Modern Art/Glasgow Print Studio Gallery
Dr Jim al Kalili on his wonderful BBC4 programme on the Atom summed up his subject by describing it as like a giant cathedral but with relatively nothing in it,being almost devoid of mass.This tricky concept kept flitting through my mind as I wandered through "GoMA" this morning.
GoMA,like so many public modern art, galleries has all the echoing chambers & reverential hush of a great church--or,indeed,a great library--but,like the interior of Kalili's Atom has precious little in the way of substance.It's a while since I last visited,but nothing seems to have changed much.Downstairs is an exhibition of sculpture,which seems to be a rearrangement of the last few shows I saw here;some second hand furniture here& there,broken masonry positioned on the floor just-so,bent steel wires signifying absolutely nothing,a plaster cast of a pocket digital camera sat upon a table like some holy relic.Nearby,on the floor lies an open umbrella--one of those handy,see-through ones--an artwork so unsure of itself,it solemnly bears the title,"No Title".This seems to be Art about Art--or at least,Art Museums--& nothing else.How one longs for some red meat,some conviction,passion or belief.Soviet Socialist Realism...Hell,National Socialist Realism.Ivo Saliger,Arno Brekker...Beryl Cook....Anything.
Not for the first time do I feel sorry for the gallery attendants who,like bored electrons,wander hither & thither,eyeing this solitary visitor--it has to be said--with some suspicion.Maybe they think I'm going to attempt a runner with the "Powder-coated Steel,painted & screenprinted aluminium "Law of Large Numbers 2008".
Upstairs,another artist has had the brainwave of defacing her collection of old "National Geographics"--or "re-appropriating" them,as the accompanying texts have it--& making a very thinly spread exhibition of collages from the result.For some reason,Horatio McCulloch's lovely view in oils of "Loch Maree" has been thrown into the mix.Upside down.
Everywhere there are verbose labels & weird explanatory texts regarding "Appropriation" & "Re-Contextualising"(both terms surely fig leaves to mask the vampirism that has been chewing up much of the arts this last wee while)just so we get the point that this is Art of true worth & not just the result of folks too lazy to actually make anything themselves.
Here's Nicholas Serota:" I think the difficulty for many observers of contemporary art is to understand that the everyday in art is in itself an insight,rather than necessarily a representation".
Quite so.
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Dr Jim al Kalili on his wonderful BBC4 programme on the Atom summed up his subject by describing it as like a giant cathedral but with relatively nothing in it,being almost devoid of mass.This tricky concept kept flitting through my mind as I wandered through "GoMA" this morning.
GoMA,like so many public modern art, galleries has all the echoing chambers & reverential hush of a great church--or,indeed,a great library--but,like the interior of Kalili's Atom has precious little in the way of substance.It's a while since I last visited,but nothing seems to have changed much.Downstairs is an exhibition of sculpture,which seems to be a rearrangement of the last few shows I saw here;some second hand furniture here& there,broken masonry positioned on the floor just-so,bent steel wires signifying absolutely nothing,a plaster cast of a pocket digital camera sat upon a table like some holy relic.Nearby,on the floor lies an open umbrella--one of those handy,see-through ones--an artwork so unsure of itself,it solemnly bears the title,"No Title".This seems to be Art about Art--or at least,Art Museums--& nothing else.How one longs for some red meat,some conviction,passion or belief.Soviet Socialist Realism...Hell,National Socialist Realism.Ivo Saliger,Arno Brekker...Beryl Cook....Anything.
Not for the first time do I feel sorry for the gallery attendants who,like bored electrons,wander hither & thither,eyeing this solitary visitor--it has to be said--with some suspicion.Maybe they think I'm going to attempt a runner with the "Powder-coated Steel,painted & screenprinted aluminium "Law of Large Numbers 2008".
Upstairs,another artist has had the brainwave of defacing her collection of old "National Geographics"--or "re-appropriating" them,as the accompanying texts have it--& making a very thinly spread exhibition of collages from the result.For some reason,Horatio McCulloch's lovely view in oils of "Loch Maree" has been thrown into the mix.Upside down.
Everywhere there are verbose labels & weird explanatory texts regarding "Appropriation" & "Re-Contextualising"(both terms surely fig leaves to mask the vampirism that has been chewing up much of the arts this last wee while)just so we get the point that this is Art of true worth & not just the result of folks too lazy to actually make anything themselves.
Here's Nicholas Serota:" I think the difficulty for many observers of contemporary art is to understand that the everyday in art is in itself an insight,rather than necessarily a representation".
Quite so.
A short walk away,in King Street,The Glasgow Print Studio Gallery is showcasing work by recent graduates of a new Post-Graduate course at Glasgow School of Art,"Fine Art Practice(MLitt)".
I have no idea what "MLitt" means.I'm assuming,in these overcredentialed times that the M stands for Master ,but of what? Littoral....Litteracy? I'll probably never know.
Anyway,according to the litterature,on this course,"(some) students embark on a focussed exploration of their chosen medium,whereas others begin to challenge the very limitations conventionally associated with that medium".Not wishing to trample on the sensitivities of such recent graduates I'll just say that the results,as seen here,are,in the main, remarkably similar in spirit & execution to those seen in GoMA's "Every Day" & indicate a course dedicated to turning out yet another generation of Glaswegian "conceptualists" & would-be Turner Prize-winners.I wonder....Personally I would have thought that particular market was getting just a wee bit crowded --if you can see a bandwagon ,it's normally too late to jump on it.
Incidentally,I wonder what the course lectures & lessons actually consist of ?
I had a horrible vision during my visit of the Blue Peter Studio circa 1970: Bearded,corduroy-clad Open University types presiding over specialised seminars in switching lightbulbs on & off,rhapsodising over dusty "post-modern" architectural plans & holding workshops exploring best-practice in the use & applications of multi-coloured sticky tape.I wonder what the money's like.....?
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