Reviews & features: Visual art
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Dieter Roth: Diaries
6 Aug 2012
Moving and sensitive, if frustrating, insight into Roth’s final days
A wall full of flickering video screens dominates the downstairs space of the Fruitmarket Gallery, labelled and ordered like surveillance monitors. Roth filmed ‘Solo Scenes’ on cameras that he positioned in the most personal spaces of his home and…
Cheer Up! It’s Not the End of the World
6 Aug 2012
Apocalypse images and tormented childhood dreams from Gordon Cheung, Damien Hirst and more
It’s coming. The end of the world, that is. Or at least that’s the case according to those who subscribe to the ancient Mayan theories of disaster-movie-style apocalypse, who reckon it will all be over by Christmas. As the title of this group show…
7x7th Street
4 Aug 2012
Interactive sounds sculptures create a musical promised land
Seven and seven is, well, a very magic number indeed in Jean Pierre Muller's walk-through collaboration with musical icons including Robert Wyatt, Nile Rodgers, Archie Shepp and Terry Riley. Free-associating ideas based around the number seven (days a…
Artbeat: Jock Mcfadyen
2 Aug 2012
London-based artist at the Edinburgh Art Festival 2012
What was the first exhibition you went to see? My grandfather used to take me to Kelvingrove when I was a boy and I remember red drapes as he showed me the Salvador Dali crucifixion and the blasphemy of the viewer looking down on the head of Christ. He…
David Michalek discusses his life as an artist - interview
29 Jul 2012
The multi-disciplinary artist reflects upon Bill Viola and trading art for baseball cards
What was the first exhibition you went to see? The first two contemporary art exhibitions that I went to see were at the Los Angeles MOCA. The first works we saw upon entering the museum were very large and impressive paintings by Anselm Keifer. But…
Roderick Buchanan: Legacy
29 Jul 2012
Feature-length film installation exploring both sides of the Troubles in Northern Ireland
For a work that brings together the two sides of the same coin that are Irish Republicanism and Northern Irish Loyalism, the black wall that divides the two screens of Roderick Buchanan’s feature-length film installation without comment is a silently…
George Leslie Hunter: A Life in Colour
29 Jul 2012
Comprehensive survey of the work of Rothesay-born colourist
More than 70 paintings and prints by the least known of the four Scottish colourists not only demonstrate the breadth of Hunter’s painting practice and his constantly changing approach and style, but also reveal the influences on the Rothesay-born…
Philip Guston (1913-1980): Late Paintings
29 Jul 2012
Late work by renowned US artist in Scotland for the first time
Continuing its growing tradition of presenting some of the greats of 20th century art in striking surroundings, this festival Inverleith House plays host to Canadian painter Philip Guston, a contemporary of Pollock and De Kooning in 1950s New York. The…
Susan Philipsz, Kevin Harman and Anthony Schrag take art to the streets
28 Jul 2012
The artists are staging outdoor works as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival's Festival Promenade
'I’m checking them out / I’m checking them out / I got it figured out / I got it figured out / There’s good points and bad points / Find a city / Find myself a city to live in.’ (David Byrne / Talking Heads – ‘Cities’) If Edinburgh’s town planners…
Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910
28 Jul 2012
Extraordinary exploration of Symbolism and landscape painting
There is something timely and relevant about a major exhibition of paintings created during a time of economic change and uncertainty in society, and against a backdrop of modern living that engendered feelings of fear, alienation and disillusionment…
Iconic America artist Carolee Schneemann appearing at the Edinburgh Art Festival 2012
28 Jul 2012
Artist known for discourses on the body, gender, sexual expression and liberation
Carolee Schneemann, the iconic American visual artist, known for her discourses on the body, gender, sexual expression and liberation, is exhibiting at Summerhall during the Edinburgh Festival. Her seminal works, ‘Meat Joy’ (1964), ‘Fuses’ (1967) and…
Weaving the Century
28 Jul 2012
One hundred years of tapestry from the Dovecot weavers
It’s 100 years since the Dovecot Studios was established in its first home in Corstorphine, and this exciting tapestry exhibition over three floors of its current premises in Infirmary Street is a fitting celebration of how this very traditional art…
Harry Hill exhibits paintings and sculptures at Edinburgh Art Festival
27 Jul 2012
TV Burp comedian displays other side in My Hobby
The fact that Harry Hill is set to make an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival is not in itself big news. The bald-headed, bespectacled, large-collared comedian has a long association with the world’s largest arts beano, grabbing early raves for his…
World Press Photo 2012 exhibition visits Edinburgh
23 Jul 2012
A photo essay of the world, richly deserving of the term ‘definitive’
Once again returning to Edinburgh for its annual summer visit to coincide with the Festival of Politics, the World Press Photo exhibition is a source of marvel and inspiration, even those of us who keep in touch with the news. As well as collating most…
Interview: NVA's Speed of Light at Edinburgh International Festival 2012
11 Jul 2012
Sport and art combine to cover Arthur’s Seat with light and colour
Arthur’s Seat will be a dramatic spectacle of light and colour thanks to NVA. Claire Sawers talks to Angus Farquhar and some of his runners ahead of this ambitious meeting of sport and art
Susan Philipsz sounds the One O'Clock Gun at 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival
11 Jul 2012
2010 Turner Prize winner on senses, songs and Sirens
2010 Turner Prize winner is using an Edinburgh institution for a specially commisioned piece of sound art. Here The List talks to the artist on senses, songs and Sirens
Edinburgh Art Festival 2012: Highlights
11 Jul 2012
Surrealists, symbolists and Scottish colourists at this year's art festival
Leslie Hunter: A Life in Colour. This major study of the Scottish Colourist’s output features over 70 important works throughout his career, with pieces created in venues from Fife to France. If the life and work of Hunter is your bag, then why not also…
2012 Edinburgh Festival of Politics highlights
11 Jul 2012
Talks on George Wyllie, the music industry, Canongate and Scotland's wood cabins
Singin’ I’m No a Billy, He’s a Tim. The difficulties of overcoming ignorance associated with the issue of sectarianism in Scotland were perfectly highlighted last season when one football radio pundit accused Des Dillon’s play of actually promoting…
Major Picasso show as part of 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival
11 Jul 2012
Enduring appeal of artist considered greatest of the 20th century
A major new exhibition coming to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art explores Picasso's enduring legacy and the British artists he inspired. But why did the UK take so long to get with Pablo’s programme?
Hear A Pin Drop at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
11 Jul 2012
Norwich sound artist Holly Rumble on listening to pins and birds
These may be tough times for the public sector, but at least the officials at Edinburgh City Council are blessed with the Fringe to liven up their daily litany of licensing requests. Sound artist Holly Rumble provided one such chink of light in a local…
Edvard Munch: Graphic Works from the Gunderson Collection
23 May 2012
Extended introduction to troubled Norwegian painter
Perhaps the greatest surprise for casual viewers of this high-profile new exhibition from the Scottish National Galleries is the discovery that Norwegian painter Edvard Munch had a whole catalogue of work besides ‘The Scream’. One of the most famous…
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Lightning Fields and Photogenic Drawings
25 Aug 2011
Breathtaking exploration of both photography and science
To say that Sugimoto's contribution to the Edinburgh International Festival is striking would be an understatement. This is the first time these works have been displayed in Europe. The Japanese photography pioneer’s huge analogue 'Lightning Fields…
Interview: John Byrne
24 Aug 2011
Painter and playwright at 2011 Edinburgh Art Festival
What came first – the art or the writing? It must have been the drawing and the art, because my mother used to tell people that I was drawing in my pram. We have to take her word for it – she was a very honest woman. Do you hold writing and art in…
John Byrne: Moonlight and Music
17 Aug 2011
Major exhibition of works by much-loved Scottish artist
So recent are some of the pieces in this show – timed to coincide with the launch of a biography of the artist by Lund Humphries – that self-portrait ‘Chop Suey’ and Byrne’s children’s book Donald & Benoit: A Story of a Cat and a Boy arrived close to…
Richard Demarco and Joseph Beuys
17 Aug 2011
An art world friendship under a Scottish sky
A single rose can make a garden; a single friend can make a world. Writer, artist and philosopher Richard Demarco’s friendship with the humanistic artist Joseph Beuys was something special. These two passionate, occasionally obtuse men were drawn to…
