Paris welcomed world leaders last weekend to celebrate the magnificent rebuild of Notre Dame, completed on a time scale many thought impossible. I was in Glasgow on Sunday visiting my uncle, and, sparked by indignation at its very different fate, we took a taxi to look at the burnt-out School of Art. What a contrast. It is a plastic-wrapped wreck, while the streets around it … [Read more...] about A failure of leadership over Glasgow’s “Mack”
art
Back to the National Gallery of Scotland after 30 years
Finally, I can go back into the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh after decades where whenever I tried to go round, I would get so angry I had to leave.I used to go there a lot as a child. As I remember, we would often go on a Sunday. I think my parents, having grown up with a habit of churchgoing wanted to do something that elevated the spirit, and … [Read more...] about Back to the National Gallery of Scotland after 30 years
Gulliver’s foot and art’s redemptive power
“I met a traveller from an antique land,Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert. . . . nothing beside remains…“OzymandiasI went on a hunt for Gulliver’s foot today - it is all that remains of a gigantic statue by the sculptor and former convict Jimmy Boyle, in a park near the housing schemes of Edinburgh’s Craigmillar and … [Read more...] about Gulliver’s foot and art’s redemptive power
Memeification of the Metro
The Mayor of London has just unveiled new artwork (via Twitter) by David Hockney, which consists of a Microsoft Paint redesign of the Piccadilly Circus underground station signage and features in the digital advertisement displays. Sadiq Khan describes the image in his tweet as “brilliant work” and “the first in a series of major art projects we’ve commissioned”, indicating … [Read more...] about Memeification of the Metro
Optimism of the will in Future Library
In the face of so much suffering, if art insists on being a luxury, it will also be a lie.Albert Camus: Create DangerouslyFuture Library by Katie Paterson turns hope into art. Coronavirus has closed museums and galleries but there is an irrepressible vitality in the Now Exhibition at Edinburgh's Gallery of Modern Art.Showing remarkable optimism, especially in these … [Read more...] about Optimism of the will in Future Library