IG:LU Christmas Exhibition

13 Dec 2011 in Highland, Showcase, Visual Arts & Crafts

IG:LU, Church Street, Inverness, until 21 December 2011

THROUGHOUT 2011 IG:LU has continued to establish itself as one of the city’s most dynamic and engaging venues with an eclectic programme of gigs, films, photography and art exhibitions.

As an alternative exhibition and performance space, IG:LU is a vital addition to the local cultural scene, providing a meeting point for artists of all disciplines and public access to their work. Over the last year exhibitions such as Photoglobal 1 & 2 brought the world to Inverness and Inverness to the world. This global outlook in terms of the region’s ongoing cultural development is essential, coupled with showcasing the work of local artists across an entire spectrum of practice from Graphic to Conceptual art.

Alisa Hughes - A Ship Called Relation

Alisa Hughes - A Ship Called Relation

IG:LU’s 25th event is an exciting convergence of established and emerging local artists, including work by Michael Forbes, Shaun MacDonald, Rosie Newman, Richard Maddalena, Alisa Hughes, Henrietta Ludgate, Heidi Soos, Graeme Rodger, Robbie Mackintosh, Nathan Mellis, Gavin Downie, Chris (Simpsons artist), Doo Glow Productions, Tilly Honey, Ladyface and Hollipops.

Climbing the stairs at IG:LU is always a voyage of discovery, and with the latest show the journey begins on the staircase itself with Sea of Emotion (Watch Your Step) by Alisa Hughes. Hughes has created an incredible sense of movement, both physically and emotionally, in the wave-like curvature of her design, which continues over several floors of the building. The fluidity of her deep charcoal and black linear painting in a continuous sweep within the confined structure of the staircase works beautifully, humorously accented with characters and motifs such as a pencil holding onto a paintbrush afloat in the squall, and heart-shaped Jolly Rodgers. A cupboard on the staircase houses another element of the installation in the recorded sound of the ocean and alternative responses; (a) Sink (and join the madness) or (b) Swim, accompanied by a clown mask and yellow inflatable arm bands.

Alisa Hughes - Do You Mind

Alisa Hughes - Do You Mind

Stylistically Hughes is a presence immediately felt as positively edgy and ambiguous, qualities that are expanded in her work as part of the main exhibition upstairs. A Ship Called Relation in charcoal and oil pastel reveals the artist’s fine draughtsmanship in a rhythmic expanse of ocean, like a living organism. The title of the work and accompanying sea shanty rhyme suggest the human element grounded within the work. In the absence of human figures the vessel itself becomes the visual symbol of a relationship or the need for “two to make any sense”. The range of mark within the drawing is a union between graphic deliberation and the softness of blended pastel and charcoal handled with great sensitivity. This is exemplified in the contrast between the linear wave design and the treatment of clouds in an oncoming storm in the top right hand corner of the composition.

The artist’s adjacent acrylic on canvas, Do You Mind, feels like a disturbing cinematic still, an intimate invasion of bodily space. The pose and dress of the woman in terms of provocation are inverted by a black and white documentary style palette and the positioning of the body, her mind’s gaze beyond the scene or the viewer. The foreshortening of the body and positioning of her over life sized head, spilling into the foreground and into the space of the viewer, is immediately unsettling- amplified by the presence of a seemingly malevolent clown masked figure between her thighs. The photo realist style of the work contributes to the discomfort of an image which cannot be easily dismissed as simply provocative or shocking due to the dynamics of the composition in unison with the title of the work.

Based in Ullapool, Hughes is an exciting and unexpected find. There is an intelligent mind at work in these images, together with very accomplished technique. It would be wonderful to see the strongest works on display here develop further into a definitive statement, allowing the artist’s unique voice to be resoundingly heard and seen in a solo exhibition.

Michael Forbes - Pretty In Pink

Michael Forbes - Pretty In Pink

Exhibiting regularly in the UK, USA and Europe, the surreal POP inspired works of Michael Forbes are distinctive for their graphically bold delivery of humour and irony. Angel A exhibits a typically seductive palette of candy bright colours; the Angel of the title, a pin up model in fetishist heels and gold leaf halo, perched on a shiny red armchair with an attendant dog, a black star patch over its eye. There is a thin line between seducing the eye passively with the language of mass media and advertising and interrogating that language in a social context. The two works by Forbes on display represent that essential tension and ambiguity extremely well.

The second work in mixed media, Pretty In Pink, is more critically contemplative in its juxtaposition of an oval format reminiscent of advertising signage, model female profile and three dimensional gun, the entire composition shot up with pink paint. A colour of passivity is fused with an instrument of violence and the presentation of this loaded object turns the visual language of mass consumption in on itself, raising questions in a way that the burlesque style titillation of Angel A does not.

Tilly Honey - Origami Flower Brooches

Tilly Honey - Origami Flower Brooches

A series of paintings by Shaun MacDonald offer an extremely timely vision of our age, rendered with the precision of a Dutch or Flemish master. The sequence of ideas in House 2, House Ring and House and Hotel 2 are deliberately and cumulatively stacked one on top of the other in a gratifyingly multi-layered interplay of surface and ideas. MacDonald’s use of empty plastic monopoly pieces convey the nature of the game in an era of financial crisis, while referencing a visual tradition of patronage, documentation of status, property and wealth within the Western Art tradition.

An interrogation of the act of painting, the role of the artist and the painting as object are also manifest in the artist’s almost obsessive rendering of three dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface. The progression of imagery from single house (a tiny green Monopoly piece) to a circular formation of identical green houses, half in shadow and then a pile of upturned hotels and houses in opposing red and green is expansive in scale, turning national obsession/ misguided aspiration into stark reality. The realist style of painting on a relatively intimate scale and sensitive, detailed rendering are both beautiful and uncompromising in their aesthetic. MacDonald’s House series delivers potent social commentary aided by the artist’s visual literacy and advanced technical skill.

It is great to see the work of emerging young artist Gavin Downie exhibited opposite more established artists such as Shaun MacDonald and Michael Forbes. While Downie’s paintings lack the precision and voice of his large scale stream of consciousness ink drawings, his draughtsmanship and confident handling of design in black and white bode well for the future. If the qualities of intuitive design and clarity seen in his drawings can be applied to his engagement with paint handling and composition in acrylics, the results could be outstanding. What is also encouraging is to see in one room a trajectory of creative and professional development visible in the work of artists at different stages of their careers.

Gavin Downie - Extract from Mind Games

Gavin Downie - Extract from Mind Games

Another promising talent can be seen in the work of Robbie Mackintosh. The artist’s fluid and energetic paint handling in Time & Space and his robust gestural treatment of the figure in Illustrator of Grace are the strongest examples. Broadly Expressionist, Mackintosh’s more abstract exploration of pigment, surface and mark in Time & Space in a palette of cool cerulean and cobalt, earthy yellow ochre, umber and red is both delicate and bold. It would be interesting to see a more substantial body of work of increased scale by the artist, drawing on the monumental, sculptural quality of the figurative paintings and the balance of colour, form and mark within this abstract composition. Although the quality of Mackintosh’s work in this show is variable, the artist’s engagement with the human mark and the art of painting has exciting potential.

Rosie Newman was contributed a series of playful and thought-provoking works in her Dada inspired objects and paintings. Tamed imaginatively transforms an everyday hairbrush with flowing locks, freedom and conformity tensely contained within an object of feminine association. Her paintings Bubble – Pink little girls behind the bubble wrap and Praise be to C.O.D – Boy playing PS2 are quietly and effectively subversive.

In Bubble, an image of two little girls absorbed in conversation is obscured by bubble wrap, an interesting comment on the contemporary world in relation to parenting, innocence and perception. The girls are protected from the viewer’s gaze but this also prevents the optimistic colours and essential innocence within the scene from being seen. A blue bird flying in the background is contrasted with a white figure still unformed within a birdcage in the foreground, like an impressionable lump of clay. Cause and effect are implied between the over-protective bubble wrap screen and the experience of growing up in the modern world.

The is subtle tension presented between youth and experience is also at work in C.O.D – Boy playing PS2, encouraging the audience to consider the dynamics within the image more closely. The subdued palette of blues, earthy hessian brown and gold leaf, the protagonist’s monk-like haircut, small aspirational rectangle of gold leaf and ornate gold frame all contribute to the ambiguity between the trance-like activity of gaming in a secular age and an act of religious worship framed in the manner of a historical painting. The only sharp colours in the image are two buttons on the console in orange and red which attract the viewer’s attention, drawing us further into the nature of the boy’s vacant expression. Whilst the image resembles a monk in his cell seeking enlightenment, the image in a contemporary context of an age obsessed with technological upgrades and virtual realties is suitably ambiguous.

Heidi Soos has contributed some lovely examples of her engagement with found materials and the natural world in two framed mixed media works, Secrets. The layering of materials over text and ambiguity of man-made and organic matter contribute to the contemplative nature of the work. Placed within the frame and behind glass we can’t be entirely sure if the yellow ochre leaf or curled bark forms are human bound leather or natural celluloid.

The human mark through stitching is explored further in Memory Dress 1 & 2. On one level these are fantastic examples of bespoke couture, unique pieces which would be at home in the window of a London boutique; however, the artist’s use of materials creates a more enduring dialogue than that of mere fashion or adornment. Aged fabric against white, abstract patterns of stitch, together with accents of vintage embroidery, buttons and textural lace create evocative layers of memory worn on the body. The positioning of a panel of red overlaid with lace across the chest, coloured embroidery on the shoulder and in the image of a bird, evocative of childhood, introduces colour and balance to the whole design.

Memory Dress 2 presents the ingenious transformation of green khaki trousers into an asymmetrical dress, a curious combination of active masculine outdoor associations and feminine intuition. An embroidered panel seems to suggest shifting perspectives of place, a square lawn, heavy drops of blue rain and a tree from green to brown. The memory of a particular day or passage of time is evoked by these symbols, made using deliberately stitched marks, rather than decorative patterns. Observation of detail and the ability to alter perception of everyday found materials characterise the artist’s work and it would be wonderful to see a collection of such pieces as part of a solo exhibition or catwalk show.

In making visible new work outside the mainstream, IG:LU is actively redefining how the city sees itself, providing much needed context and opportunities for potential collaboration in its ongoing engagement with artists at all stages of their careers. The open, friendly atmosphere of the venue and multidisciplinary approach has created an exciting space of infinite creative possibility and discovery, allowing important connections to be made between artists and audiences, local and international. Elsewhere in the city cultural planners should be taking note of the vision, energy and commitment of IG:LU to encourage new talent and provide a platform for emerging and established local artists. The greatest advocacy for the Arts is making them publicly visible, and while a gaping hole still exists in the provision of public art spaces in the city, IG:LU as a small independent venue is an important and very welcome addition to the region’s cultural landscape.

IG:LU Christmas exhibition is open 11am-4.00pm daily until 21st December.

© Georgina Coburn, 2011

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