Talbot Rice Gallery until 8th May
The British Art Show is a touring exhibition project that aims to enhance nationwide appreciation and comprehension of contemporary art among audiences. With this aim, The British Art Show 8 is organised every five years, touring the country to present the public with a fresh generation of artists and inspiring new contemporary art projects produced in the UK.
This year’s tour opened up in Leeds Art Gallery and is currently visiting Edinburgh as a part of the fifteen-month showing. Taking place across three venues in Edinburgh, Inverleith House, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Talbot Rice Gallery, the show is awaiting visitors with free admission in all venues.
Talbot Rice Gallery offers works by various artists. All of the art acts together to bring about the principal theme of the position of the object in contemporary culture where boundaries between natural and artificial are blurred. The British Art Show 8 brings out the contemporary artists’ response along with the changing nature of the object and reality. Talbot Rice Gallery provides a good starting point for discovering this theme.
As soon as the visitor enters the gallery, their attention is grasped by the sounds of Benedict Drew’s installation, ‘Sequencer’, one of the most indulging experiences of the gallery. The room of the installation greets the audience with sudden and unexpected noises, psychedelic and bright lights. The eerie and tempting feel of the installation reflects the modern world’s relation to technology. It encourages the audience to think about the link between the natural and synthetic material of the environment that surrounds them.
The exhibition continues with Ryan Gander’s ‘Fieldwork’, an installation that engulfs the viewer in an interpretative adventure about the stories of the objects. The visitor is also treated to artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s piece, ‘A Convention of Tiny Movements’, providing an experimental take on manipulation of objects into various forms. Hayley Tomkins’s art ends the experience of the show with an interesting perspective on the use of unconventional and traditional material in art.
Overall, Talbot Rice Gallery serves as a great start to become acquainted with The British Art Show 8’s theme of this year’s exhibitions. It is carefully curated and the pieces are well chosen to represent the core concern in an approachable and flowing manner. Considering that this is an opportunity that only comes by in five years, it can be said that the exhibition is a must for everyone who is interested – or think that they could be interested – in contemporary art. It is a very accessible show that is definitely worth a visit.
Image Credit: Ryan Gander