Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
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Set in beautiful leafy grounds, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art lies to the west of the city centre in a handsome neo-classical building. The gallery has bright, spacious rooms, and it's extensive grounds provide the perfect setting for sculptures by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro and others. |
The collection includes major works by Vuillard, Matisse, Kirchner, Picasso, Magritte, Dali and Ernst. The gallery also houses an unrivalled collection of 20th century Scottish art, including work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Colourists and members of the Edinburgh School, such as Gillies, Redpath, MacTaggart and Philipson.
The artists who represented Scotland at this year’s 51st Venice Biennale, Alex Pollard, Cathy Wilkes, and Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan have returned to Scotland to stage an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh from 7 December 2005 to 5 March 2006. Generous support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Foyle Foundation has allowed each artist to develop new commissions for this phase of the project.
All of the artists who presented work at the Venice Biennale 2005 – the world’s most important showcase for contemporary art - are based in Glasgow and have worked and exhibited across Scotland and internationally.
In the exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, each artist will build upon the work he or she made for Venice and will revisit recurrent motifs.
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Cathy Wilkes is producing a new installation that sees her continue to develop the uniquely fragile and deeply considered works for which she is respected. Imbued with its’ own sense of logic and beauty, this moving installation allows for reflection on both visual meaning and lived experience. |
Cathy will also be exhibiting a video installation which offers us access to a new perspective on her practice.
| Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan work collaboratively. In the last few years, they have begun to repeat and recycle certain motifs within their practice. This has now begun to resemble a vocabulary, or perhaps even more precisely, a grammar, with a system of rules and devices. It is through using this system that they are able to consider how contemporary art functions in the different contexts that it occupies. For the Edinburgh exhibition they will rework some of the motifs they used in Venice and represent them alongside existing works. |
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Alex Pollard is creating a sculpture-based installation which continues his distortive and self-reflexive methods of producing works such as beasts, creatures and machine-like hands that enscript their own form of control. |
Scottish Arts Council Chairman Richard Holloway, speaking on behalf of the initiating and funding partnership of the Scottish Arts Council, National Galleries of Scotland and British Council, said:
‘Scotland’s presentation at the Venice Biennale demonstrated the vibrancy of Scottish contemporary art on the world stage. The homecoming of these artists’ work creates an opportunity for the people of Scotland to see what we presented to the world audience together with additional, new work by the artists. I would encourage everyone to visit the exhibition.’
Curators Jason E Bowman and Rachel Bradley commented:
‘We hope viewers will have an enriching experience in Edinburgh amidst the intricacy and challenge of this exhibition and take advantage of the inventive education programme that accompanies this phase.’
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Selective Memory follows the highly acclaimed Zenomap exhibition in 2003, the first presentation of contemporary art from Scotland undertaken by the Scottish Arts Council and British Council, which featured work by Claire Barclay, Jim Lambie and Simon Starling (the latter two nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize 2005). Artists based in Scotland have shown work at the Venice Biennale since 1897. The Scottish artist Mark Boyle represented Britain in 1978, and since then David Mach, Arthur Watson, Kate Whiteford, Douglas Gordon, Christine Borland and Roderick Buchanan, among others, have participated. This year was the first time that presentations from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland complemented the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
In Edinburgh, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout the duration of the exhibition, guides will be on hand to give introductory tours and answer visitors’ questions. Each of the artists will talk about his or her work in a series of discussions and lectures. With the support of the Italian Cultural Institute, two special lectures will be given by Maria de Corral, co-curator of the 2005 Venice Biennale, and Enzo Di Martino author of A History of the Venice Biennale 1895-2005.
A complementary exhibition of work by Alex Pollard, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan entitled 'Echo Echo' was on show at the Collective Gallery, Edinburgh from 8 December 2005 to 21 January 2006.
For further information, artists’ details and high-resolution downloadable images, visit www.scotlandandvenicebiennale.com |