20 October 2010 at 6.30pm
A visit to the acclaimed New York artist Robert Barry’s exhibition, Words and Music at the Common Guild.
This exhibition comprises a new installation conceived specially for The Common Guild by one of the most influential American artists associated with the emergence of conceptual art in the late 1960 and early 1970s. Robert Barry was a pioneer of conceptual art, abandoning painting in 1967 to produce site-specific installations, many of which were almost invisible to the viewer. These installations and actions relied on language to indicate their existence, shifting the presentation and reception of the work from image to text.
Since the early 1970s, language, or perhaps more correctly, words, have been central to Barry’s practice, which has since included typewriter drawings, wall pieces, slide projections and films as well as often cited actions such as gas releases and telepathic pieces. Barry is now perhaps best known for his large-scale text installations known as word spaces, which cast a selection of words in a given space from an ongoing and ever-changing collection.
Applied directly to the walls, windows and floors of the gallery, the words surround the viewer, reasserting the importance of the viewer at the heart of the art experience. As Barry explains, ‘Instead of trying to use text to convey an idea or meaning, I became interested in the individual power of the word to convey emotions or feelings.’
Although utterly conceptual in origin, Robert Barry’s work is essentially experiential. This rare opportunity to see his work brings the physical space between the words, the gallery and the viewer into focus.
29 April 2010 at 6pm
In collaboration with ARTIST ROOMS on Tour, Talbot Rice Gallery presents the first solo show in Scotland of the American artist Jenny Holzer.
Jenny Holzer has been at the forefront of American art since the early 1980s, gaining widespread recognition when texts from her Truism series appeared on vast electronic advertising board overlooking Times Square in New York. Throughout her career, Holzer has intrigued audiences by placing her provocative messages in unexpected contexts including posters, metal plaques, stone benches and electronic signs as well as transforming gallery spaces into places for serious political thought. Since 2001, Holzer has incorporated poetry and writing by others into her practice and since 2004, has made the inclusion of government documents central to her work.
For the Talbot Rice exhibition, Holzer’s characteristically provocative text-based works are shown, including a selection of Inflammatory Essays which present a range of challenging statements inspired by the texts of political theorists and religious fanatics; a series of screen prints made from declassified American military documents released under the Freedom of Information Act; an installation of text pasted directly onto the gallery walls of Truisms (1977-1979) – arguably Holzer’s best-known work; and a signature LED display Blue Purple Tilt, 2007 which completely transforms the Georgian gallery.
Joining us to question the use of text and language in contemporary art and to contemplate Holzer’s responsibility to her audience, will be Pat Fisher, Principle Curator of Talbot Rice and Zoe Fothergill, Curator and Educational Development Manager for Talbot Rice.
28 May 2009 at 6pm
Francesca Woodman has become one of the most talked about, most studied and most influential of late twentieth-century photographers. She started taking photographs when she was barely thirteen, and in less than a decade, created a body of work that has now secured her a reputation as one of the most original American artists of the 1970s.
The figure of Woodman herself appears frequently in these exquisitely odd and unsettling photographs. In some of her photographs, her body seems to blend into the surroundings – caught in a state of metamorphosis – she is not quite here, nor quite there. In other images, she uses a variety of props to create strange and dreamlike tableaux, tinted with uncertainty, melancholy, and a sense of ethereal timelessness. Woodman committed suicide at the age of just 22, but in her brief yet extraordinary career, she created an enduring body of photographic work that continues to fascinate and influence today.
Joining us to examine this exhibition of silver gelatin prints is Florence Ingleby and Roberta McGrath. Florence Ingleby is Director of Ingleby Gallery and Roberta McGrath is Associate Lecturer in Photographic Theory and Criticism at Napier University, Edinburgh.
29 February 2008 at 6pm
Peter Hujar is an important American photographer of the 1970s and early 1980s, whose work describes New York at a time when the city was financially impoverished but artistically rich.
Hujar started his career on the fringes of fashion photography and is best known for his black and white portraits of the New York avant-garde. He photographed his friends and members of his extended community in NYC, ranging from Andy Warhol and Susan Sontag to downtown artists and drag performers. Hujar’s subjects also include nudes, animals and the night time streets of Downtown Manhattan. Hujar’s work received little recognition during his lifetime, but he was an important influence on artists such as Nan Goldin and Robert Mapplethorpe, among others.
Joining us will be Kirsten Lloyd, Artistic Programmer of Stills, who will help us gain insight into who Peter Hujar was and what he saw through the lens of his camera. She will also show us round the new facilities at the Gallery.
29 January 2004 at 6pm
The year starts with the upcoming event in the Cindy Sherman show, which I am delighted to say will be in the company of Moira Jeffrey. Moira’s lively, insightful and entertaining art criticism is renowned and respected throughout the Scottish art world. She is a great friend of Spin, and is keen to get us all through to Glasgow in 2004, so I hope this will be the first of many meetings.
24 April 2003 at 6pm
At the next session we will be looking at still and moving images from the Warhol to Koons display with Louise Milne from the Department of Film, Television and Media at Napier University. We will look at work by Bill Viola, Gilbert and George and Jeff Wall.
30 January 2003 at 6pm
This month we will view the ever-so-popular, Duane Hanson: Sculptures of Life exhibition, and have an opportunity to chat about some of the themes of the show with writer and lecturer, Kirstie Skinner and contemporary artist, Kenny Hunter.
