Porteous Brae Gallery, Stromness, until 6 October 2007

Andrew Parkinson: Circle, 2007 (newsprint, sunlight)

THIS EXHIBITION of work by Rebecca Marr and Andrew Parkinson in Stromness’s newest gallery has immediate impact. We are confronted by an image of the sun, which has been made by the sun under the capable guidance of Andrew Parkinson, and it is simplicity itself.

It faces us as we enter, and it sets the tone for the entire exhibition with its warmth, its sensation of light, its telling immediacy and the way it prepares us for the photograms of Rebecca Marr as well as Andrew’s other drawings.

The photograms, Big Bere and Katie’s Grass, show us how Rebecca does not rely on complex technology to convey her delight in the visual content of natural forms. Her use of light (essentially what photography is about) together with a pre-camera method reveals the beauty of those forms.

Turn forty-five degrees to the right, however, and we see three strong “portraits” where she has used her camera with directness and sensitivity.

Colour is at a minimum in the exhibition and it effectively surfaces in Skyscapes 1-6 (digital prints) and in Andrew’s Start, Stop. Here there is also humour, and that emerges again in Bush, High and Low.

The whole show has integration, from its poster, seen before we go in, to the more obviously combined effort of Photograms/Drawings, the new publication from Brae Editions, that faces us as we leave. A visit to this exhibition is an uplifting and stimulating experience.

(Rebecca Marr is currently Artist in Residence with Pier Arts Centre, Stromness. Andrew Parkinson is Exhibitions Officer at the Pier Arts Centre)

© Eric Ritchie, 2007

Links

• Porteus Brae Gallery
• Additional images from the exhibition