In My House Art in Scotland Dr Judith

In My House (Art in Scotland) Dr. Judith Findlay

New Art in Scotland • Nicola White (ed. ), New Art in Scotland (Glasgow: Centre for Contemporary Arts, 1994), pp. 18 -23

• ‘…intended to describe what was emerging at that time in contemporary art, to hazard a version, a selection of what was interesting and current. ’

• …asked to write about some aspect of art in Scotland that I was interested in to convey some of the flavour of current debates around contemporary art and its place in Scotland.

• ‘art fan’ • Identified ‘Scottishness’? • ‘Scotia Nostra’ (you know who you are)… - Douglas Gordon, 1996 Turner Prize…

• But, what is the cultural identity of art in Scotland; what makes it distinctive? • Looking at art from the ‘outside’ - as an ‘outsider’…

• ‘I don’t think anyone who works internationally perceives a scene. It’s more likely you would meet up with people in Berlin or New York or Paris. ’ - Douglas Gordon

• International • Local • What are the boundaries of art in Scotland? …

• ‘What is it that unites the disparate strains of Scottish art? Clearly much more than a predilection for stags and glens. From Ramsay and Raeburn, though the Glasgow Boys and the Colourism of Cadell, Fergusson, Peploe and Hunter, to the present-day conceptualists what we have is a tendency towards reality, an obdurate earthiness and a belief in the essential vitality and hopefulness of mankind. ’ - Iain Gale

• Common sense…a position from which to begin to identify cultural identity(ies) of art in Scotland… • …a position of • ‘outside’ and ‘local’

• ‘Outside’ the official contemporary art world (e. g. in Scotland) • - images, objects, artefacts not classed as ‘art’…

• ‘local’ • ‘…characteristic of or associated with a particular locality or area; …of a particular place or point in space; of…a limited area or part’

• Here… (and not in a gallery…)

• Is art combined with life? …

• ‘…disconnection between the “official” contemporary art world and the wider public which plays its part in support of the public institutions of contemporary art through various forms of taxation. ’ Colin Painter • ‘genuine continuity’ is required…

• Local • Home • Images and objects not to visit but to live with - to own…

• ‘It is inevitable that paintings and art works are always written about as things to visit, not to live with. ’ - Alan Woods

• What happens when we choose to write about art in ‘non-ideal’ spaces? …

• Artistic identity is not defined by national identity (even if it includes images of Scotland). Rather it is defined by those images that collude with personal values, a way of being in the world, of making sense of life, of finding and giving meaning, of performing identity.

• ‘Tastes in art do not just derive from our social and cultural identities; they also help to shape them’. - Simon Frith

• Although art in Scotland may reflect where I’m from - my taste might be said to be part of a collective taste and evidence of my background - it also suggests that where I’m from is not unchangeable.

Go and see… • Ross Sinclair v. Sir Edwin Landseer • (On now…) • David Blyth: KNOCKTURNE • Dalziel + Scullion: Some Distance From The Sun • 16 February - April 2007 • Aberdeen Art Gallery

• This week’s reading: • ‘The Nature and Aim of Fiction’ by Flannery O’Connor (photocopy) • ‘In My House: A Short Essay About Art in Scotland’ by Judith Findlay on: • www. csudh. edu/dearhabermas/jcls 1703. htm

Tomorrow - Tuesday 20 th Feb: • Seminars, A 34 m, Gray’s School of Art: • Group 1 - 9. 30 am • Group 2 - 10. 30 am • Group 3 - 12. 00 pm • Films of Dalziel + Scullion • Research Seminars with Jim Fiddes, Room 434, Library: • Group 1 - 11. 00 am • Group 2 - 12. 00 pm • Group 3 - 10. 00 am