Bren O'Callaghan » edinburgh

Edinburgh Art Festival 2010

bren — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:43:21 +0000

Martin Creed Work No. 997, 2009 © Martin Creed. Image: Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Barbora Gerny

Two days, one night, 4 Fringe performances and 8 gallery shows later, I leave Edinburgh sated and satisfied. I’d tried to stay away having drunk a generous mug of the EIFF back in June, but no – the flesh may have been weak but the spirit wasn’t taking no for an answer. I like being alone to attend the Edinburgh Art Festival so that I can muse silently upon any and all stimuli to hurl themselves across my optic windscreen without having to express my opinion aloud; preferring the cognitive equivalent of grunts. Urgh. Me no like. Urgh. Orange. Like an… orange. Urgh.

The Pursuit of Fidelity (detail) 1997 / Alexander & Susan Maris

Martin Creed with Down Over Up at The Fruitmarket Gallery concerned himself with stacked items in order of progression and size, an approach no less polarising than his Turner prize winning ‘The Lights Going On And Off’, in which the bare bulbs in an empty gallery did just that. Instead it was his felt-tip paintings, panels of apparently solid shades that on inspection had been executed using contrasting pen strokes, that had me cooing and thinking of how I used to shake out the fibrous, Tampon-like interiors of my own pencil case to cheat for ultra fast-colouring.

Momenta 1994 - 2001 / Alexander & Susan Maris

Over at Stills Gallery on Cockburn Street, a retrospective of Alexander and Susan Maris’ photography, The Pursuit of Fidelity, displayed palm-sized pools of black and white intensity that appeared to defy gravity by not sliding in brackish streaks down the blank, white walls. Preoccupied with landscape, stillness, myth and the resonance of personal and geographic histories, these sniper-sight works possessed a telescopic focus, sometimes sharp, others clouded in a gelatin fog, landscapes condensed and reduced to precise cameo-like profiles of earth and sky.

blipfoto were in residence at Inspace with Life Turns, nurturing a spiked forest of zoetropes to reflect the principle call to arms: a collaborative, Alt-w funded project from the Bafta Award-winning online photography platform, aided by an iPhone app that allowed contributors from across the world to submit their own strolling bodies – view the finished project above. It was this approach in clarity and purpose that impressed me most acutely whilst dodging the pipers and pounding the pavement this year, found also at the Ingleby Gallery and Talbot Rice: both brave enough to pass over kaleidoscopic variety and theatrical installations for solo artists working in paint.

En Passant 5 / Iran do Espírito Santo 2010 (housepaint on wall)

Ingleby Gallery was a breath of fresh air once I’d managed to rediscover the secret route through the Waverley Railway station thanks to an Escher-like conundrum in which the building can be spotted from multiple points at North Bridge but with no obvious means of reaching the place. (Tip: head to the rear platforms behind the M&S, stick to the left, look for a footbridge). Well worth the attempt, they always have free postcards of new exhibitions on gorgeous, thick card-stock – a boon for cash-strapped art tarts. Grab a couple, pop them on the mantelpiece, folk will think you a connoisseur and pay an extra quid for a posh bottle of wine when calling round.

En Passant 5 / Iran do Espírito Santo 2010 (housepaint on wall)

As for the show itself, Iran Do Espírito Santo’s large scale tone painting takes up the entire wall surface of the main gallery on the second floor. It’s quite something. An exercise in minimalism, shades of white, grey and black paint have been mixed to form a blended transition in mathematically precise vertical stripes. Bathed in the dishwater-pale Edinburgh light leaking through the windows, the effect is of a corrugated surface; the fine line between tones creating the illusion of peak and trough. The limited palette builds from white through to tissue, dove, concrete, tippling into blue; Air Force, Prussian, purple: aubergine, plum, to blackberry, inkwell, a starless night.

Water Glass 2 / Iran do Espírito Santo 2008 (crystal)

The sensation of cleansing and de-cluttering, of combining basic ingredients to create an omelette of aesthetic purity, continues with a small series of sculptural works by the same artist. Of these Water Glass 2 is utterly mesmeric. Worked crystal, it appears to be just that, a glass of water, impeccably tooled to give the appearance of liquid held by cooled molten sand and silica. There are no air bubbles, viewing from different angles causes the glass to appear first empty, then full, then half-drained. It is an idea reduced, uncomplicated and undeniably beautiful.

Julie Roberts

My other heart-want lurch of the EAF programme was Julie Robert’s exhibition Child at Talbot Rice. Her carefully orchestrated painting style, here realised in a new series of children’s portraits both posed and at play, squeezes colour in thick streaks like rainbow toothpaste. Glances of light, dappled shadow and nuance of texture are abstracted in the form of detailed patterns and a paint-by-numbers approach. Despite the jigsaw effect of a shattered bus-stop, the subjects retain their humanity… albeit sutured together, whole but sliced apart like a butcher shop poster detailing the cuts of a cow.

Julie Roberts

Leafing through the catalogues of past series on display, this comparison adopts greater relevance as Robert’s earlier work includes the ripped and torn bodies of Jack the Ripper’s victims, glistening with exposed, bulbous organs and shredded flesh, a vintage picture-book peek of a dark and adult play. That her distinct signature can step between innocence and experience yet offer a fresh perspective upon changing obsessions, from medical apparatus to porcelain pastoral ornaments, suggests that her technique has become a powerful voice, with timbre, pitch and resonance. Only the story changes.

Peaky Lady

bren — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:55:02 +0000

image: Linda Matthew

I love this picture, it only recently arrived amongst the final batch from our photographer at The Call of Cthulhu event at the EIFF. No reason to post, other than it being MY website and you SEE what I decide. Tomorrow, a picture of a kitten in a blender.

Red Alert

bren — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:36:37 +0000

The final batch of pictures are back from our Cthulhu snapper Linda Matthew and this one group shot looks like a Dynasty-line up for a new medical drama. I'm calling it 'Red Alert', where the living and the undead work side-by-side to salvage and despatch souls that stagger into their emergency room - or their bed. Form an orderly queue! In repeat syndication on a cable channel in your area soon.

Did you do Cthulhu?

bren — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:48:08 +0000

photo: Linda Matthew

We set the bar high with Blood Tea and I wasn't sure we could match it - at least not in volume of free-flowing alcoholic juju - but by crikey almighty, we did! The first pictures are back from our talented snapper Linda and they capture what was a brilliant group effort during Arkham Sanitarium's open evening for our expanded screening of The Call of Cthulhu. From Kev's extraterrestrial idol (actually modelling clay and spray paint rolled in dirt) to the moans and insane mutterings of The Dungeonettes, we sipped orange vodka from urine pots and scoffed enough Jelly Belly prescription beans to entice a sugar coma. But at least medical assistance was on hand!

photo: Linda Matthew

: photo: Linda Matthew

photo: Linda Matthew

Arkham Sanitarium

bren — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:43:45 +0000

Thank you to everyone, both cast and audience, who made last night's expanded cinema screening for The Call of Cthulhu such a massive success. Some of those who came along were even heard to say that it was their favourite event of the entire festival! A special bow of ground-grazing gratitude to Mark Daniels of Inspace for support beyond the call of duty (including acting duties), Rebecca Guest (pictured) for filling the flat shoes of our crazed pharmacist, The Dungeonettes, Jelly Belly Gourmet Jelly Beans and MacCorns Popcorn. A review and full gallery to follow, but I need a couple of hours kip before I climb into a flight suit for this evening's performance of Moon, including an introduction from an honest-to-goodness astronaut!

Sinkhole

bren — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:46:56 +0000

Sinkhole: Director Eric Scherbarth

Prospective patients attending tonight's open evening at Arkham Sanitarium are in for a treat. In addition to the feature screening of the The Call of Cthulhu from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, we are also thrilled to announce the European Premiere of Sinkhole by director/writer/editor Eric Scherbarth. A salesman approaches a mysterious landowner with an offer to buy the man's smouldering abandoned coal mines but finds that there is more at stake than the land. Winner of Best Short Film at the NYC Horror Film Festival 2009, it should prove a deliriously terrifying side dish alongside the likes of Eel Girl (Dir. Paul Campion) and Elder Sign (Dir. Joseph Nanni). I do so hope no one is of a nervous disposition. You may wish to bring a pillow to bite upon.

Eel Girl: Dir. Paul Campion

Candy striped

bren — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:40:22 +0000

Jak Morgan and Bren O'Callaghan / photo: Judy Cabbages

The first batch of photos are back from our ace photographer Judy Cabbages of Blood Tea And Red String at Inspace, Edinburgh. The colour palette suggested by the film and imposed to an extent by the location worked incredibly well as we cranked up the red, white and black for our cupcake table, make-up booth and hanging bough from The Tree of Unrequited Love (loaded with handmade anatomical hearts for raffle prizes). I'll write up greater detail and create a gallery for the event soon, but for now I have my head down on tomorrow's oddball activity - H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu, with a late confirmation and star turn from The Dungeonettes as inmates of Arkham Sanitarium!

photo: Mark Daniels

Lizzie's Tea Party / photo: Judy Cabbages

photo: Judy Cabbages

Lizzie's Tea Party / illustrations: Emma Rios / photo: Judy Cabbages

Lucy / photo: Judy Cabbages

photo: Mark Daniels

photo: Judy Cabbages

Lizzie's Tea Party / photo: Judy Cabbages

Jak Morgan / photo: Judy Cabbages

Unearthly delight

bren — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:43:13 +0000

The Atmosphere series began at Inspace last night with the screening of Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994), the definitive documentary upon the life and times of both instrument and inventor, Professor Léon Theremin. Having patented the device in 1928, the mix of mechanical idolatry and entirely human subjectivity resulted in a fitting testimony to a noise as ethereal and transitory as our passage on this Earth. It also focused heavily on enthralling figure and key contributor Clara Rockmore, muse and theremin virtuosa who could tease a concert from the air with her red-clawed fingernails.

A life of champagne and concerts at Carnegie hall challenged societal conventions with a race-defying marriage to an exotic dancer, whereupon Theremin was kidnapped by the KGB, smuggled back to Russia, imprisoned and forced to spend 25 years pursuing espionage technology during the Cold War. The closing scenes of a frail and bent Theremin being reunited with a sparky, sharp-as-a-tack Rockmore felt almost painfully intimate. Oh, and afterwards we all had a go on the real thing, courtesy of FOUND. This is one seriously beautiful film. Or am I just a soft touch? Guilty, m’lud!

Just what the doctor ordered

bren — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:38:22 +0000

Peter Adlington

More graphics for the forthcoming Cthulhu screening - now sold out - this time from designer Peter Adlington who has created a brand identity around the fictional Arkham Sanitarium, said to be inspired by the legendary Danvers State Hospital (rumoured birthplace of the pre-frontal lobotomy). And before you think, 'They nicked that name from Batman', NO, Batman nicked it from Lovecraft! So there. Pete has created medical packaging imagery around the Outer Gods, dire warning eye charts and a little paper souvenir for those attending on the night. Bravo Pete! You did say you would work for beans, right? Prescription medication for everyone!

More tea, vicar?

bren — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:50:47 +0000

Emma Rios

A mere glimpse of the super-fantastico illustration that Emma Rios has provided to adorn our doll's tea party at Inspace for Blood Tea And Red String. Finnish artist Sara Bjarland will also be contributing a piece to the projection screens: Blossom (2008) features brightly coloured carrier bags crumpled into balls which slowly unfurl to mimic flowers in time-lapse documentation, providing a complementary backdrop to our homemade soiree. Officially-cannot-wait.