I recently delivered a guest talk to students at Grays School of Art alongside Ralph Mackenzie about using social media and reaching an audience online. With smart phones and numerous social media platforms its easier than ever to connect and communicate but speaking to people face to face still trumps the avatar, for me anyway. And with that being said a few of the students along with lecturer Keith Grant invited me to their latest show featuring work from 2nd & 3rd year students in the Grays foyer so it seemed only right after berating them about engaging with the wider community that I should visit the show!
Spread over two floors around the main stair well, the show served as timely example of where the artists currently stand, which is probably in that strange middle ground between dissertation and degree show. The idea of having to write a critical thesis on any subject used to scare me to death but now I think it's a challenge I could rise too and certainly I have the utmost adimiration for anyone who's come through that particular academic process. But what about the paintings, what about the art? Its fantastic. The show is as varied as the artists who've created it but there's a nice shift into more surreal territory, something that's been a little thin in previous shows. Claire Kidd's bold canvas instantly sucked me into a surreal landscape of yellow trees while 'AWPR' by Rita Kermac played with depth and local politics. Leila Kleineidam work continued to push the boat out, her style easily recognised from the Stewart Park mural I'd spotted a few weeks back.
Across both floors I found work that was exciting, captivating and hinting towards an exciting degree show come June. And of course not all the work on display was strictly painting in nature with a video piece 'Free Your Truth' by Alex Sharpe on repeat (I caught just at the protagonist wakes up and starts shouting "what the fuckkkkkk") and a large ceramic pot by Paul Herman, adorned with unusual characters. Also Davina Kaur Panesar's piece played with shapes and layers in a fun way, extruding the painting out and creating a neat optical illusion of depth and flatness but upon closer inspection you find the holes are real! Indeed with so much figurative and surreal works it was nice to see 'Untitled' by A'gota Magyar who's use of colour and shape really caught my attention.
The art school continues to be an exciting place and certainly one deserving of your attention, whether its a pop up show that's only on for a few days or the full on degree show which comes round every June. It's worth making the effort to go and see the space and to meet the artists. With so much momentum across the arts in Aberdeen from Look Again Festival to Painted Doors, there's opportunities and chances to make Aberdeen a more viable choice as a place to stay and make work, a bridge that many of these artists will come to soon, do I stay or do I go? Here's hoping a few of them will stay, or at least long enough to make their mark before trying somewhere new! Well done to everyone who participated in the show and I'm looking forward to more regular visits to Grays School of Art!
Spread over two floors around the main stair well, the show served as timely example of where the artists currently stand, which is probably in that strange middle ground between dissertation and degree show. The idea of having to write a critical thesis on any subject used to scare me to death but now I think it's a challenge I could rise too and certainly I have the utmost adimiration for anyone who's come through that particular academic process. But what about the paintings, what about the art? Its fantastic. The show is as varied as the artists who've created it but there's a nice shift into more surreal territory, something that's been a little thin in previous shows. Claire Kidd's bold canvas instantly sucked me into a surreal landscape of yellow trees while 'AWPR' by Rita Kermac played with depth and local politics. Leila Kleineidam work continued to push the boat out, her style easily recognised from the Stewart Park mural I'd spotted a few weeks back.
Across both floors I found work that was exciting, captivating and hinting towards an exciting degree show come June. And of course not all the work on display was strictly painting in nature with a video piece 'Free Your Truth' by Alex Sharpe on repeat (I caught just at the protagonist wakes up and starts shouting "what the fuckkkkkk") and a large ceramic pot by Paul Herman, adorned with unusual characters. Also Davina Kaur Panesar's piece played with shapes and layers in a fun way, extruding the painting out and creating a neat optical illusion of depth and flatness but upon closer inspection you find the holes are real! Indeed with so much figurative and surreal works it was nice to see 'Untitled' by A'gota Magyar who's use of colour and shape really caught my attention.
The art school continues to be an exciting place and certainly one deserving of your attention, whether its a pop up show that's only on for a few days or the full on degree show which comes round every June. It's worth making the effort to go and see the space and to meet the artists. With so much momentum across the arts in Aberdeen from Look Again Festival to Painted Doors, there's opportunities and chances to make Aberdeen a more viable choice as a place to stay and make work, a bridge that many of these artists will come to soon, do I stay or do I go? Here's hoping a few of them will stay, or at least long enough to make their mark before trying somewhere new! Well done to everyone who participated in the show and I'm looking forward to more regular visits to Grays School of Art!
