5 Lombard Street, Inverness, August 2011

SINCE Hung opened its doors in April 2011 owners Kevin Taylor and Joni Phippin have been busy establishing a new venue for contemporary art and craft in Inverness, hosting a variety of exhibitions, regular drop in sessions for local makers, and events that include an EP launch by local band Sara Bills and the Hasbeens.

Gallery pretensions are absent in this welcoming space which is a meeting point for artists to make, show and sell work and for the general public to see a range of art practice not usually represented on the local gallery circuit. Plans are underway for a variety of workshops lead by local artists, and from September on the second Sunday of every month Hung will host informal “crafternoons”, an opportunity for makers to meet, share knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. Currently every Friday morning “Make Time” drop in sessions encourage people to bring along something that they are working on in order to make time for creativity in a supportive environment, realise individual projects and exchange ideas over a cup of tea.

Denise Davis - Figure in Red

It is welcome and refreshing to see a range of contemporary art and craft work with a more urban sensibility in the Old Town precinct as a retail and aesthetic alternative. Representing both established and emerging artists, Hung is a welcome addition to the growing network of alternative venues in the area, both permanent and temporary, such as IG:LU, Dalcross Project Space and IOTA events.

It is important for any art scene to have break through spaces for emerging artists and for a range of venues to help provide professional context, so that artists and makers can hone their skills and presentation. It will be interesting to see how Hung develops in this respect in balancing the needs of both semi-professional and professional artists, while building its profile and reputation as a venue. There has always been a need in the Highland capital to develop a range of different venues which offer exposure to the actual diversity of creative practice that exists here, but is seldom publicly visible. Some of the city’s newest creative ventures such as Hung and IG:LU are committed to addressing this and providing opportunities for emerging artists to find their audience.

This month the downstairs gallery space at Hung features sculptural work and digital prints by Edinburgh College of Art graduate Murray J Ferguson and a series of striking semi abstract figurative works by established local artist Denise Davis. Davis’s highly accomplished work displays her deep understanding of human form in a superb suite of oils on canvas including Figure In Red, Tryptich of a Life Model and Figure With a Red Skull.

The artist’s earthy, visceral palette, interior treatment of the figure and psychological intensity is reminiscent of the work of Francis Bacon. Although the lobby space is relatively small, these paintings, which can be seen from street level, have immediate impact, and it is wonderful to see them allowed to breathe on a wall of their own. In a region where a very limited vision of landscape is the dominant visual currency it is gratifying to see this work exhibited publicly in the centre of the Highland capital.

FAN 1 by Murray J Ferguson, 2010

A series of seven sculptures and accompanying prints by Murray J Ferguson focus on unseen everyday mechanical objects finely constructed from cardboard. These interior components of human architecture modelled on fans, vents, drains and locks contain real and imagined hybridised forms, causing the viewer to question their perception of everyday objects and environment.

A work like Vent 1 is highly ambiguous, playing with oppositions between man-made and organic, schematic and aesthetic forms. The sculpture with its elegant four-pronged stem supporting what resembles an open bud, is presented on a cardboard plinth; a curious combination of art object, organic structure and engineered functionality. The photographic prints above each sculpture display two views of the object which enter into a dialogue with the audience’s view of the concrete construction in three dimensions before them, causing us to question what we are visually classifying.

Vent 3 also engages with ambiguity of scale; the cone-like structure could be a small component part within a machine or building or a monumental piece of futuristic architecture; elegant, obtuse and angular in its design. The careful construction of Ferguson’s work encourages contemplation and a work like Fan 1 is unexpectedly beautiful in its range of tone and circular form. This collection of objects which are strangely “familiar and often unnoticed” provide the viewer with a series of imaginative triggers, seeing the everyday anew.

Upstairs, Hung displays a wide range of jewellery, one-off clothing, paintings, prints and photography, including graffiti canvases by Fresh Paint, Tain-based artist Fiona Byrne’s whimsical range of fifi loves handmade glass jewellery, original clothing and jewellery using recycled and vintage materials by Heidi Soos, and paintings by Gordon Brown, Jai Haystlik, Ed Bradley and Amy McMillan.

Krzysztof Borkowski’s jewellery in copper, brass and burnished silver is particularly striking; his chain with copper bomb and military stripes and metal brooches incorporating vintage photography combine precious adornment with unexpected elements and found images. Cromarty jeweller Jane Verberg’s designs in silver are distinctive in their simplicity: the uneven beauty of flattened rings and a bracelet with a single stone, resembling a seer stone, are two examples. Another serendipitous gem is Joanne Noble’s bracelet in turquoise enamel and silver, an ingenious and thought provoking design which reads like a chain of map fragments.

Hung’s next exhibition opening in September will feature textile and sculptural work by recent Inverness College graduate Joanie Ross with new work showcased downstairs each month. It will be interesting to see how the venue continues to evolve as an exhibition, workshop and social space, however the newest contemporary art and craft venture in the area is certainly a welcome and much needed convergence of these elements both for local artists and audiences- and a venue that beckons return visits.

© Georgina Coburn, 2011

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