26 February 2026
Join us at our February Spin event as we head to Modern One to see ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois|Helen Chadwick|Robert Mapplethorpe. We’ll be joined by Lucy Askew, Head of Modern & Contemporary Art, who will share her insights along the way.
The displays feature Louise Bourgeois, Helen Chadwick and Robert Mapplethorpe. Each presentation offers a distinctive and diverse approach to ideas of self-expression, identity and the complexity of our inner life. Highlights include Louise Bourgeois’s three-metre-high Spider; Helen Chadwick’s innovative light boxes and a playful sculptural installation and striking self-portraits by Robert Mapplethorpe.
These displays are part of a wider refresh at Modern One, highlighting modern and contemporary works from the national collection.
25 April 2019
We pay a return visit to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to discuss three of the 20th century’s most influential photographers: Francesca Woodman, Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Drawn from the ARTIST ROOMS collection jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate, Self-Evidence brings together a selection of work by the these three American photographers to explore the idea of a self-portrait.
Curated by Annie Lyden, international photography curator at the NGS, the photographs date from the 1960s to the 1980s and cover a period of profound societal change and shifting attitudes towards issues such as women’s rights and homosexuality.
Each of the photographers have explored portraiture in different ways; Woodman’s images are experimental and address an inner mental state. Arbus chose not to represent herself but those around her in her portfolio, A Box of Ten Photographs, 1969-1971. And Mapplethorpe portrays himself in varying guises as well as recording the final ten years of his life.
26 March 2015
For our March Spin event we will be visiting the recently opened ARTIST ROOMS: Roy Lichtenstein at Modern One.
As part of the new REFLECTIONS display at Modern One there is a special three-room ARTIST ROOMS display dedicated to works by renowned American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).
Lichtenstein was one of the most radical and influential artists of the 20th-century. With great integrity to materials and techniques, and with intellectual rigour and wit, Lichtenstein created visually striking works that continue to provoke questions about how images permeate our lives. This display brings together a newly assembled group of works by Lichtenstein, shown as part of ARTIST ROOMS for the first time and made possible thanks to the generosity of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
We will also look at the work of contemporary artist Louise Lawler. Primarily a photographer, for this body of work she has selected a number of her own photographs and collaborated with Jon Buller, an artist and book illustrator, to transform her compositions into line drawings, like those found in colouring books.
28 November 2013
For our November Spin event we will meet at Modern One for a discussion of the ARTIST ROOMS: Louise Bourgeois exhibition, A Woman Without Secrets. Lucy Askew, Senior Curator at the Gallery of Modern Art will be joining us to talk about the exhibition and the ARTIST ROOMS programme.
A Woman Without Secrets is a major presentation of late works by the great French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010). The exhibition is the first showing of an outstanding collection of works on loan to the national ARTIST ROOMS programme, including Poids (1993), Couple I (1996), Cell XIV (Portrait) (2000), Eyes (2001-2005), and two late masterpieces, the cycle of 16 monumental drawings A L’Infini (2008-2009) and the artist’s final vitrine, Untitled (2010). The exhibition also includes loans from Tate, The Easton Foundation and private collections. This exhibition considers how Bourgeois worked with a variety of materials and scales, and how she explored the mystery and beauty of human emotions.
Complementing the Modern Art’s exhbition, The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh is also showing an exhibition of Bourgeois’s works on paper: Louise Bourgeois: I Give Everything Away. Their exhibition features 220 of the artist’s Insomnia Drawings (1994-95) and runs until 23 February 2014.
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.
30 April 2009 at 6pm
This month we will be visiting the long-awaited ARTIST ROOMS exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art to see the work of Vija Celmins, Ellen Gallagher, Damien Hirst, Alex Katz, Andy Warhol and Francesca Woodman.
ARTIST ROOMS is an extraordinary collection of international contemporary art recently acquired jointly by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate through the donation of over 700 works from Anthony d’Offay which will tour a wide range of museums and galleries across the UK. At the heart of ARTIST ROOMS is the concept of individual rooms devoted to particular artists, so that their work can be seen and appreciated in depth.
Highlights of the exhibition on show at the Gallery of Modern Art include Celmin’s beautiful, delicate images of seas, deserts and the night sky; a complete series of landscape and portrait paintings by the American painter Alex Katz; Francesca Woodman’s intimate, surrealist-influenced photographs; and Damien Hirst’s iconic Away from the Flock – an early example of Hirst’s animals in formaldehyde.
Joining us to discuss the works will be Keith Hartley, Chief Curator at the Gallery of Modern Art. Keith was instrumental in negotiating with Anthony d’Offay to secure this important acquisition so it will be a fascinating insight into how it all came about.
