Trip to Edinburgh 27th November

KARLA BLACK: SCULPTURES with paintings by Bet Low (1924-2007)
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Inverleith House


This was the first show we went to see by Karla Black. I quite liked the huge mound of earth which was in the first room which had be dusted with patches of coloured powder. The soil's heavinness was quite a contrast to some of the other pieces which seemed very fragile, made from paper or sometimes a thin coating of coloured chalk powder. They somehow seemed to avoid any classification which consequently, but not wholly, didn't really evoke any reaction to these pieces.


I did whowever like the piece Acceptance Changes Nothing (below) which conjured up thoughts of glacial mountains which had been deprived of their peak - the top looked like it had been broken off and dusted with pink powder.

This show at the Fruitmarket Gallery covered a wide range of methods and themes and reminded me how important it is to use drawing as a learning process when you are exploring ideas for your work.

Radical Nature at the Barbican

Agnes Denes: Wheatfield – A Confrontation
15 July 2009 - 6 August 2009
Off Dalston Lane

A pioneer of environmental art, Agnes Denes makes interventions into the landscape that frequently take the form of powerful performances involving the planting of trees or crops. In Wheatfield – A Confrontation, 1982, Denes planted and harvested two acres of wheat in Battery Park landfill in New York, situated between the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Centre. It was an act of transplanting rural nature into the heart of an otherwise extremely dense urban environment. As part of Radical Nature the work is restaged at an abandoned railway line in Dalston, East London.

EXYZT: The Dalston Mill
15 July 2009 - 6 August 2009
Off Dalston Lane

Barbican Takes Radical Nature to Hackney
Part of Barbican Art Gallery’s current exhibition Radical Nature – Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009, the experimental architectural collective EXYZT has created The Dalston Mill, turning a disused railway line and waste ground in Dalston into a vibrant rural retreat for the people of the area and beyond.

The fully-functioning, 16 metre mill is accompanied by a 40 metre square wheat field, a recreation of environmental artist Agnes Denes’ original 1982 pioneering piece.

Come and participate in one of the events or workshops, from theatre performances and bread-making to pedal-powered music and tea-time talks with artists.

Self-Initiated Project

Conrad Shawcross at Siobhan Davies Studios
shown as part of 'The Collection'
7th April 2009

Slow Arc inside a Cube (2008)

I was completely mesmerised by this piece of work which had been installed in the top floor of Siobhan Davies studios I managed to sit around for almost an hour filming it from various viewpoints. The effect of the intensely bright light coming from such a small source meant that the shadows cast on the walls of the studio shifted from feeling like a cage was being lifted off of you to then feeling entrapped again. I was very interested in this idea of an image being able to have such a tangible quality so much so that it almost feels physical.