Glasgow International Festival of the Visual Arts

It's a funny title 'Festival of the Visual Arts', I mean, who'd visit a festival of the non-visual arts? A festival of the Dark Arts perhaps? There could be something in that, but it's probably not a grant.

Two of my favourites at this years G.I. Festival utilised abandoned industrial spaces.

At Vestiges Park you could have been forgiven for thinking you'd stumbled across an old props dump for Dr Who.

A motley but engaging collection of stuff saved from any temptation to ridicule by it's own sense of fun.

You had to be daring to reach the Glue Factory on foot...

Up St Georges Road till you're nearly in Possil and Possil's not the sort of place to be nearly in.

What wasn't 'works' really was the works... or what's left of them.

Boundaries were blurred.

There was something touching in the fatality of this exhibition. Referencing it's impending demise with a nod to the defunct utility of the surroundings.

As a person with too little patience, I'm always moved by perseverance in the face of futility.

Like the beautiful Mayfly, the G.I. appears fleetingly, only to those looking for it and all too soon it's gone. This was the best so far, hopefully that's the direction of travel, unfortunately we'll have to wait two years to find out.

After a hard days art I screwed the top on a bottle of this. Lovely. Off dry with flavours of tinned pear, mandarin and pineapple. On the nose, was I imagining it? A whiff of glue. £9.99 in Waitrose.

Click here for the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art website.

If I could paint it, I wouldn't need to keep talking about it...

It was a strange period in my life. I'd been hanging around with one too many conceptual artists and the strain was beginning to tell. One night after a few glasses of red wine I cracked, and out of the crevice emerged a new character, an alter ego... let's call him Splodgyoko.

Splodgyoko, as you may have guessed, was a contemporary artist, but he didn't call himself that, or anything else for that matter, because terms set boundaries and thus limits on creative expression. Splodgyoko's obsession was the space between spaces.

"For Splodgyoko the space between spaces represents the futility of existence. Yet by examining it's overlooked beauty, he also reveals an underlying message of continuous rebirth. That which was new will soon become old, usurped and eventually forgotten. In it's place, for a fleeting moment, the future, before it too begins it's inevitable decay".

This kept me amused for weeks. Some people actually believed it, which got me thinking, was me pretending to be an artist actually a work of performance art in itself? After a few more thoughts like that I decided it was time for Splodgyoko to retire.

Over a year later I found myself at an event trying to sit on one of those completely functionless pieces of furniture that haunt arts venues. I eventually came to rest with my feet in the air and my back leaning forwards, trying in vain to sip from a bottle of beer. Sitting perfectly upright next to me was a skinny young chap with bright red trainers and a white man's Afro. We got chatting...

"I'm an artist", he told me, "No shit", is what I thought... "Oh really, how interesting, what sort of work do you do?", is what I said. "Oh it's quite hard to explain", he ventured, before attempting to do so for the next twenty minutes, eventually concluding that essentially his work was all about... "Exploring the space between spaces".

If I wasn't being partially digested by it, I'd have fallen off my chair.

Chateau Musar is a bit of a wine between wines. From the Lebanon, a country between countries, ravaged by it's bigger neighbours intrigues. Made by the Hochar family from grapes grown in the Bekaa Valley, even during the civil war they managed to keep making it in all but one vintage. It's a remarkable wine although very individual and not to everyones taste. In my experience it's best, though not very practical, if bought a few weeks or even months before drinking. More than just about any other wine I know it seems to need to settle down. It lasts for years too. Picked this up in Waitrose for £17.99, and only one sip in I'd say it's worth every penny. A passionate and profound wine.

CLICK HERE to read more about Chateau Musar

Waking the Dead

Working till two in the morning meant I was determined to drive in the evening. If I started to droop, an escape would be easier. Persuasive powers and the pop of a cork melted that resolve in minutes. I'm glad.

Tattinger's Prelude was gorgeous. Honeyed praline reviving juice that bundled me into the cab. We drove towards Paisley in the drizzle and finally found the place. A splendid Victorian villa whose owners put their own art in the basement to make way for art to sell. A proportion of the money raised goes to charity.

Best in the sale for me looked like a fucked up Amelia Earhart. Unfortunately my art purchasing fund couldn't stretch to the £5000 asked. Instead I spent more time gazing upon my favourite piece, it wasn't part of the sale, so I felt better coveting it.

Flaking after the taxi back I was given an elixir to sip. This stuff could wake the dead.

Immense mineral refreshment. It's probably wrong, but I like Grand Cru Chablis young, unfortunately my wine purchasing fund rarely stretches to it's asking price either.

Thank you Jo.

Pictures at an exhibition...

Just back from the Recoat gallery's opening night of 'Crystal is the New Wolf'. An exhibition of work by Will Barras and Rue Five. The weather's awful, pouring rain and it's the first time I've been to an opening here. The space is 'intimate', 'compact and bijou'...... tiny. They seemed like a nice crowd. Actually, a bit too nice. Surely great art requires at least a sprinkling of suffering? A pinch of pain? A teensy bit of torture? This lot looked far too healthy. 

We were even offered a complimentary Corona beer ... chilled and with a wedge of lime! Lovely, but did anyone ever create great art after a night on the Coronas?  They had other nice sounding drinks too, but shouldn't drinks associated with art have more of a whiff of toil? British Sherry or large plastic bottles of cheap cider seem more appropriate. There's just not enough 'struggle' in quaffing a delicious limey refreshing beer while pondering pictures.

Will Barras's picture 'Pearl Fisher' was best for me, no photo I'm afraid, but thought these were good too, and I like the Japanese influence in some of his work.

Earlier today I went to see 'Synecdoche New York', a great film. One character's an artist whose work is so miniature that you need a magnifying glass to see it. Rue Five's work almost warranted the same treatment.

Click on this to see more Will Barras work at his own website.

And click here for Rue Five.

The exhibition runs till June 6th and is open Tuesday-Sunday 12-6pm.

Recoat Gallery

323 North Woodside Road

Glasgow 

G20 6RY

(right next door to the Woodside Social Club)

0141 341 0069