Tag: Modern One

Scottish artist Bruce McLean gets a crowning display for his 80th birthday at Modern One in Edinburgh

A celebratory display to mark Bruce McLean’s 80th birthday opens tomorrow (Saturday 29 June) at Modern One in Edinburgh. 

Taking over room 20, Bruce McLean: I Want My Crown traces the Glasgow-born artist’s humorous, provocative and engaging six-decade long inquiry into sculpture. Through works made across a range of media including photography, performance, painting, printmaking, film, and ceramics, the one room display invites you to challenge your thinking about sculpture and expand your ideas of what art can be. 

Sparked by childhood curiosity and challenging what he had been taught about sculpture as a student at St Martin’s School of Art in the 1960s, McLean’s artistic career has been characterised by his desire to break the rules. Encompassing both wry satire and an earnest inquiry into the nature of art, his work is known for its intelligence, as much as its humorous and rebellious spirit. 

The works in the display question many of our traditional assumptions about what sculpture should be, who it is for, how it is made, and how it is shown. In so doing, McLean is also asking broader questions about the role of art in our everyday lives, and in particular the role of the artist.    

An early target of his was the leading British sculptor Henry Moore, who gained international celebrity status in the post-war period of British sculpture.

McLean’s photographic work Fallen Warrior (1969/2011) is an image of the artist ‘falling’ onto a ‘pedestal’, an idea he picks up again in Pose Work for Plinths (1971) in which McLean, as a living sculpture, tries out a number of poses across three plinths, the traditional means of showing sculptural works.

The piece references Moore’s own sculpture Falling Warrior (1956–7), in which a male figure clutching a shield is shown falling, heroically, on the battlefield. 

Challenges to hierarchy and status are constant themes of his work. When, aged 27, he was offered a solo exhibition at Tate Gallery, London, he seized on it as an opportunity to make a radically subversive statement about art world systems, conventions, and power structures.

Wryly titling the exhibition King for a Day, it comprised a list of ideas for 1000 prospective artworks, which McLean presented as a one-day ‘retrospective’ in the form of a catalogue.

Multiple copies of this catalogue will be displayed, allowing visitors to pore over McLean’s ‘homages’, ‘studies’, and ‘serial’ works – his parodic take on the contemporary art world’s continual need to define and categorise artworks. 

Decades after King for a Day, McLean revisited the theme with I Want My Crown (2013). This video installation, projected large-scale in the gallery, brings the artist into the space and shows him dancing to a 1973 song of the same title by British musician Kevin Coyne as he gestures to a crown sculpture on a shelf above his head. 

Another recurrent theme in McLean’s art is that behaviour – both private and public – is a function of the environment around us.

This notion takes centre stage in the architectural projects he has worked on over the years. In 1994, initiated by Glasgow City Council, a brief was set for a redevelopment of Glasgow’s Argyle Street.

McLean’s hyper-real proposal to turn the street into a bustling interactive ‘theatre’ won the competition in 1996, though the project was never realised. Visitors to I Want My Crown can enjoy the paper collages that lay out McLean’s playful vision.

The proposal included an Irn Bru bar, a Tunnocks Tower offering periscope views of the city, and a helium-filled fabric cloud sculpture to shelter those below from the Scottish rain. 

Also featured is Constructed Painting (2024), comprised of six paintings made between 1990 and 2014, each stacked and propped against the gallery wall like the components of a large-scale collage.

The paintings reference sculptures by well-known artists of the past and present. Enlarging photocopied images of their sculptures, McLean made cardboard cutouts, their huge scale signalling their overbearing influence on his early work and art school training.

Staging different groupings in his studio, McLean photographed the cutouts, then made paintings after the photographs. The result is a hybrid between sculpture, performance, photography and painting. Testament to McLean’s dynamic creative energy, the configuration of these paintings will change multiple times during the display’s run. 

Ever the innovator, McLean continues at 80 to question and expand the meaning and resonance of sculpture, allowing it to remain as vital and relevant for another generation. 

Bruce McLean said: “I’d like to thank Leila Riszko, Simon Groom, and all the staff at the National Galleries of Scotland for putting together this show with great care, sensitivity and patience. Good work!

“My next project will be Passing a Law Sculpture. The law will be that every 17 year old person in Britain goes to art school for a one year foundation course focusing on drawing in all its many aspects. Everything in the world is drawn before it is created.” 

Leila Riszko, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “We’re really excited about this fantastic opportunity to bring the creative energy of Bruce’s work to the attention and admiration of a new generation.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with him on such a dynamic presentation of his work – as befits a celebratory exhibition in honour of the artist’s 80th birthday!” 

Bruce McLean: I Want My Crown is yours to discover at National Galleries Scotland: Modern One from Saturday 29 June 2024. Find out more online Bruce McLean | I Want My Crown | National Galleries of Scotland 

National Galleries of Scotland acquires first ever Varo painting to enter a European collection

FREE

Modern One, Edinburgh

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce the acquisition of Encounter (1959), by world-renowned Surrealist artist Remedios Varo (1908-1963). Extremely rare and sought-after, this is the first painting by Varo to enter a public collection in Europe. Encounter is on display and free to view at Modern One.

The work was acquired in time to mark the centenary of the publication in Paris of André Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924, which effectively launched the movement. A significant and exciting acquisition for the people of Scotland, Varo only completed about 100 paintings in her lifetime, with most in public collections in Mexico. Only able to dedicate herself fully to creating art in the last decade of her life,Encounter was produced in 1959, at the height of Varo’s career.

The concept of the encounter – especially the chance encounter – was a subject favoured by the Surrealists for its mysterious potential.

In this striking composition, a seated figure carefully lifts the lid on a tiny casket to find her own eyes staring back at her. Several similar boxes sit on the shelves in the background, suggesting that there are more “selves” to be discovered.

Many of the figures that Varo painted resemble the artist herself, and this work is believed to be a self-portrait.

Varo said of the work: “This poor woman, full of curiosity and expectation as she opened the little coffer, encounters her own self; in the background, on the shelves, there are more little coffers, and who knows whether on opening them she will find something new.”

Born in Girona, Catalonia, in north-east Spain, Remedios Varo was a Surrealist painter and poet. Her father, an engineer, recognised her artistic talent from a young age and encouraged her to copy his technical drawings, which would influence her compositions for the rest of her life.

She was one of the first female students to attend the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, where she enrolled at the age of 15, and later received her diploma as an art teacher. In 1935, after moving to Paris, Varo encountered artists engaging with Surrealist concepts, and was later introduced to the poet and founder of the Surrealist movement, André Breton. 

After fleeing Nazi-occupied France in 1941, Varo settled in Mexico, where she was one of a small but important group of Surrealist poets, painters and photographers. These artists include Kati Horna and Leonora Carrington, with whom she forged a creative alliance but also an enduring, life-long friendship.

Using a combination of chance and planned techniques, Varo produced work that was influenced by science and the occult in equal measure. The resulting images are as mysterious as they are technically brilliant, often depicting enchanted domestic scenes and strange encounters with otherworldly beings.

Playing with the magical and spiritual potential of interior spaces, Varo sought power in ordinary rooms — in dusty corridors, and creaking doorways — transforming them into fantasy realms that overflow with possibility.

In the last ten years, the National Galleries of Scotland has made efforts to acquire major works of art by female artists.

This latest unique acquisition will help to expand the collection and give a more comprehensive view of Surrealism as a diverse, international movement, rather than one simply centred in Paris.

Other recent acquisitions include major artworks by Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning and more recently, archival material related to Edith Rimmington.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “We’re thrilled to have acquired this incredibly rare and important painting by Remedios Varo. Her career as a full-time artist lasted little more than a decade.

“She worked slowly and meticulously, completing only about a hundred paintings, many of which are now in museum collections in Mexico and the USA. They are breathtaking gems which one seldom sees outside books.

“There’s not a single painting by her in a public collection outside the Americas. Or rather that was the case until now. Moreover, Encounter is a key work in her oeuvre, a self-portrait which deals with self-discovery and identity.

“It cements the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection of Surrealist art as one of the very finest in the world.”

Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said: “Artist Remedios Varo’s haunting painting, ‘Encounter’ into the Scottish National Galleries’ collection will captivate visitors from Scotland and across the UK.

“This painting is a key addition to Scottish National Galleries’ growing collection of major works by women artists. I’m delighted that Art Fund has been able to support this important Surrealist work to enter the permanent collection, thanks to our generous donors and National Art Pass members.”

The acquisition was made possible thanks to the Walton Fund, along with support from Art Fund and the Wendi Norris Gallery, San Francisco.

Extraordinary new artworks by Alberta Whittle debut at the Modern

Alberta Whittle: create dangerously   

1 April 2023 – 7 January 2024  

Free   

National Galleries Scotland: Modern One  

Alberta Whittle | create dangerously | National Galleries of Scotland 

New multi-media works by the celebrated Barbadian-Scottish artist, Alberta Whittle, will be revealed today [Saturday 1 April] in a free exhibition at the Modern (Modern One) in Edinburgh. Alberta Whittle: create dangerously will run until 7 January 2024.

Experience the ambition and breadth of Alberta’s career to date and come away feeling her call to ‘invest in love’. At the heart of Alberta Whittle: create dangerously is the artist’s generous spirit and her powerful and poetic storytelling. Alberta pulls apart the belief that ’racism and police brutality is [just] an English problem or an American problem’.

Instead, she underlines Scotland’s complicity in the structures of white supremacy. Often deeply personal, weaving stories of family and belonging, Alberta offers a message of hope, asking us to imagine a world outside of these damaging systems and ways of thinking.  

Step inside a sound installation and listen to the voice of poet Kamau Brathwaite (1930-2020), a much-loved and hugely influential figure in Caribbean literature. Dealing with the themes of grief and loss, Alberta made this in personal tribute to Brathwaite, who was a close friend of her family as well as a collaborator.

Titled A portal for breathing love into the Elders or an Adoration for kith-folk who we long for (2021), this installation is comprised of objects of significance to the artist. 

There will be a room dedicated to addressing the themes of rest and care, and connection and belonging in Alberta’s practice, where you can slow down and pause. Inside this room, visitors will find a beautiful bespoke quilt hanging on the wall, crafted by a group of women from North Edinburgh. 

Inspired by Alberta’s practice and use of textiles and fabrics in her work, the quilt is being caringly made by a sewing group run by Project Esperanza, a charity dedicated to supporting women of African heritage, as well as women from other culturally diverse backgrounds. Facilitated by textile artist Francia Boakye, this quilt draws upon the makers’ lived experiences, weaving together their stories and their journeys as migrants to Scotland.    

To coincide with Alberta Whittle: create dangerously, Edinburgh Art Festival and the National Galleries of Scotland will also support a new performance by the artist due to take place during the festival this summer (11-27 August). 

The National Galleries of Scotland recently announced the acquisition of two major works by the celebrated Barbadian-Scottish artist, Alberta Whittle. The artist’s extraordinary installation with tapestry, Entanglement is more than blood (2022), and thought-provoking film, Lagareh – The Last Born (2022), will form an integral part of Alberta Whittle: create dangerously.

The two works were at the heart of the artist’s critically acclaimed exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale, 2022, where she represented Scotland. Their entry into the national collection forms a significant legacy of this landmark project.

Indicative of Alberta’s art practice, Entanglement is more than blood and Lagareh – The Last Born promote compassion and collective care as a means of resisting racism and anti-Blackness. The sculpture and film installation confront the violence of colonialism, the legacies of transatlantic chattel slavery, and the impact of the climate crisis. 

Co-commissioned and created in collaboration with Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, Entanglement is more than blood is a large-scale tapestry on a gate-like structure. It is imbued with the artist’s rich symbolism, including water, snakes, diamonds, hands, and shells. Acting as a portal, the tapestry explores the meaning of family, kinship and ancestral histories, themes that will echo throughout the exhibition.  

The imagery in the tapestry is also seen in Lagareh – The Last Born, which was co-commissioned and produced by Forma Arts, London. Centring the collective strength of contemporary Black women, this 43-minute film is anchored in ideas of abolition, rebellion, grief, and love. 6

Shot on location in Scotland, London, and Barbados, and featuring footage from Sierra Leone and Venice, Alberta has woven together contrasting stories of individual acts of resistance against racist violence with gentle moments of intimacy. 

Lagareh – The Last Born will play continuously throughout the day, and for visitors who wish to see it from the beginning, screening start times will be made available in the gallery and on the National Galleries of Scotland website. 

Alberta Whittle said: ‘This is an exhibition about hope. It is about the hope we can nurture within ourselves, but also the hope that we can have difficult conversations about the harm caused by colonialism, the Transatlantic trade in enslaved people, and the climate crisis.

“The exhibition presents an opportunity for self-reflection, and to think about the types of power we hold in the world and how we can use it compassionately.’

Lucy Askew, Chief Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘We are incredibly happy to reveal more details about Alberta Whittle: create dangerously.

“This hugely important exhibition, devoted to the work of one of the leading artists working in Scotland today, is underpinned by Alberta’s deep generosity and warmth. Alberta speaks of fundamental truths about the violence and injustices of our past – ‘the burden of proof’ – and the legacy of systemic racism which permeates through our society today, asking us to confront this with her.

“With compassion and care, she holds and guides us, encouraging us to pause, to breathe, and to think differently.”