Jamie Radcliff: The Exhibition - The ultimate romantic gesture.
Saturday, 18 April 2009 – Tuesday, 28 April 2009
SWG3, Studio Warehouse, Glasgow, Scotland.
Oliver Braid
Oliver Braid, Julie Burrow, Celeste Carballo, Cordelia Cembrowicz, Tom Harrup, Anna Henson, Laurence Payot, JP Somerville
An exhibition curated by MSc artist Oliver Braid at the Glasgow School of Art.
The exhibition featured the work of 71 artists who responded to the initial call for submissions. We were each asked to respond to a situation of unknown or unrequited love between curator and subject with limited information and images as stimulus.
Some responses were simple, others complex. Artists performed, sculpted, drew, painted, wrote, sketched, photographed, filmed, installed, sold, devised and printed their ideas into being.
* * * * *
I was fortunate enough to
I was fortunate enough to be in Glasgow for the opening night, participating and observing.
Needless to say Jamie Radcliff did not attend the exhibition yet the night was a succession of private views in the warm April sun. Somewhere near a busy duel carriage way, under an arched railway bridge, the galleries of SWG3 were open and inviting. A LowSalt retrospective (http://www.lowsalt.org.uk/), housed in shipping containers was complimented by a bbq and beer bar.Traffic cones, binoculars, chalkboards, footage and documentation of past performances were on view as were a host of young artists. The intimate cube of Washington Garcia (http://www.washingtongarciagallery.com/) housed the work of Niall Macdonald where sculptures of animal parts, and frozen beer were on offer.
Such an exciting art scene was in full flow and the consumption and exchange of ideas were obvious between young artists. This is due to the scale of the city and the energy of the artists studying and practicing in the city.
These shows lead directly to the experience - the ultimate romantic gesture. The curator is all involved in the theme and I admire the scale of his project in facilitating the collaboration of such a volume of artists.
Key themes in the show were lions, upholstry, music and comedy idols, love unrequited, mustaches and sexuality.