Arts Diary: Hint of retro and a tip for the top as 300 works by Scottish artists go on show

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 20:27

MORE than 300 works, chosen from submissions by about 200 Scottish artists, go on show today at the 148th exhibition of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in the Mitchell Library.

There's a hint of retro about this vast collection of Scottish contemporary painting and sculpture, with works echoing the line and shape of 1950s or 1960s artists, says RGI convener and artist Simon Laurie.

"Every so often people go back to value things in the past, and there's a lot of good paintings in the 1960s that have been overlooked," he said.

Striking portraits by artist Helen Wilson range from The Countess, lavishly dressed, to the more sombre vision of a wigged lawyer, Legal Study.

Most prices range from a few hundred to the low thousands. Has the recession hit sales? "I don't think anybody has reduced prices. We have just kept our heads down and kept working. It's not been a great year but you have to keep going."

David Smith, with two pieces, including Trawlers, Puffer, and Fishes, Buckie, is described by Laurie as one to watch. He's an electrician who paints part-time, who is now regularly getting work accepted in major shows.

"He has a good sense of shape, and form and colour," Laurie said. "He's doing well, he's won awards, he's doing something right."

The show also includes White Sea Fan, by Abigal McLellan. One of the brightest talents of her generation, she died last month, aged 40, of multiple sclerosis. The work is marked as not for sale.

&#149 Two girls offering "free hugs" outside Glasgow's Buchanan Street underground station have popped up in a Youtube video for the Trashcan Sinatras' new single, People.

The band, who say the pair are definitely the stars of the video, want to offer complimentary VIP tickets for their Scottish tour that kicks off at Glasgow's Oran Mor on November 12 – as well as the chance to hand out free hugs on stage.

&#149 What now for Edinburgh's theatre scene after the giant Ambassador Theatre Group snapped up the Edinburgh Playhouse? In particular, what impact will the move have on its rivals in the Scottish capital, the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and its older sister, the King's?

Britain's ATG bought up 17 theatres across Britain from the California-based Live Nation group for 90 million, to bolster an empire of 39 British theatres.

ATG already run both the King's and Theatre Royal in Glasgow. With the 3,000 seat theatre, they will now will be the biggest venues in the capital when it comes to bidding for top touring shows, particularly musicals that might have been better on the smaller EFT stage.

This autumn, the King's has pulled in Rain Man, here next week ahead of its Glasgow showing, and Penelope Keith's Entertaining Angels last month was a money-spinner. But can it keep its lead? There's always panto, which has to have a homegrown flavour. The King's, in a long tradition, this year offers Robinson Crusoe against the (somewhat bizarre) choice of We Will Rock You at the Playhouse.

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