GSA GALLERY SOCIETY
Momentum
31.05.23
25.05.23
FREE ENTRY
Glasgow School of Art’s gallery society is a facilitator, organiser, and developer of art and culture inside and outside the walls of GSA. Our aim is to promote aspiring young artists and their art to a wide audience across Glasgow. We will assist in the advancement of all forms of art and media, as well as giving thought provoking creatives a platform in which to explore their ideas and creations. This is why we wanted to start the first of many exhibitions under the ‘gallery society’ monicker with ‘Momentum’. In this show you will see artworks that acknowledge a pivotal point in the artists’ education within the art school. The exhibition showcases the refining of artist’s styles, the experimentation of a new media, and the magnum opus of students’ academic timelines.
Information:
ADDRESS:
The Alchemy Experiment
157 Byres Road, G12 8TS
Glasgow
OPENING NIGHT:
Thursday 25th May 19.00-21.00
BOOK LAUNCH:
Friday 26th May 19.00-21.00
GALLERY OPENING HOURS:
Monday - Saturday* 9.00-18.00
Sunday 10.00-18.00
Friday 9.00-21.00
EXHIBITING ARTISTS:
Abbey Coats / @acoats.art
Alice Biolo / @a.biolo.design
Amy Anna Graham / @aa_graham_spsace
Aoife M. Hogan / @aoife_mary_
Axl Kasper / @axlkasper
Bianca Patania / @biancapatania
Claire Duquesne / @clairencecourt
Ellie Forestal Smith / @e_forestalsmith
Ellis Bairstow / @ellis.bairstow
Esther Douglas / @estherdouglasart
Eva-Maria Horn / @evimria
Freya McKinty / @freyaartwork
Iris May / @irisjpmay
Jacob Oliver / @jfo.__
Jonathan Pratt / @Skodeer
Julia Hap / @juliahapart
Lydia Harris / @haarrisart
Michael Dudgeon / @michaeldudgeonartwork
Militsa Milenkova / @militsa_milenkova
Miranda Selina Johnson / @mirandaselina.art
Poppy Fraser / @poppy_fraser_art
Rachel Scott / @rachel.artsy
Stina alden / @stina.alden
Thomas Main / @tmainphoto
Tom Gibson / @sirtomgibson
All you see is True
Lydia Harris
@haarrisart
Born in Sweden now based in Glasgow, visual artist and designer Lydia Harris focuses much of her work on experimental and bold graphics. She’s recently finished her first year studying Communication Design at Glasgow School of Art. Her way of working has roots in printmaking but is often combined with her digital skills. All you see is True: an acrylic print series inviting
the viewer to spend time decoding and analysing what they see in the abstract shapes. Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach inspired the technique, who was the first to use this method to strengthen his research and categorize people's personalities based on their unconscious interpretation of these shapes. The triptych's title encourages the viewer not to second guess their intuition and encourages personal and unique interpretations of the artwork. Art is for
everyone, whatever you see in it.
Sundown
Oil pastel on paper 15x21cm
2022
(framed)
£295
£20/hour
2023
Iris May
@irisjpmay
“£20/hour” is one painting in a larger body of work centred on life modelling and dichotomy between muse/artist. This series investigates the struggle to reach a state of neutrality and view the body as a vehicle for living as opposed to valuing its aesthetic implications.
There is an inherent alienation queer folk often feel towards their bodies being ‘male’/ ‘female’ as so many of the cultural conditions which define cisgenderism depend on being straight. This disassociation is something May continues to explore. Her current practice is focused on post-humanism and the extent to which evolution and technology will change our bodies.
Archive
Freya McKinty
@freyaartwork
Freya McKinty is a Northern Irish artist, currently based in Glasgow. Her practice exists in the
space between curation and art, where sourcing inspiration is an investigative process that allows the context of images to influence their translation. Interactions with imagery become almost scientific, as minor interferences are introduced in response to the existing scene. The
subject material becomes a collaborator, creating a dialogue between artist and art that incites consistent development and enables the authenticity of the sources - typically physical books and magazines - to remain prominent.
The Room
Bianca Patania
biancapatania
Acrylic on paper
"I’m Bianca Patania, I’m 22 and I’m from Sicily, Italy. Most of the work I make is taken from moments of my everyday life that I want to remember. Most of them are blurred, fast memories of a moment going on so quickly I don’t have enough time to capture it. The work I make starts from photographs I take daily and then explore further through the use of paint or printmaking, studying the characteristics of the image by altering them in the colours, compositions and tones. Recently I have been curious about capturing the complexity and beauty of simple and mundane objects and the work I am showcasing is a
representation of this research. This piece of work aims to look more in-depth at domestic environments and the feelings they can arouse. As I usually go from capturing one moment to the next one very quickly, I wanted to give this work a stillness, a moment of reflection on memories of lived domestic environments that trigger such feelings of nostalgia and affection for a place."
Spiralling is a brooch exploring the theme of trauma and distress, intending to physically represent a sentiment and the experience of anxiety, through metal. The brooch, of a round shape, holds a rotating mechanism on the inside, filled with steel pins. The pins act as a metaphor for spiralling, also known as catastrophic thinking or magnifying, a series of negative thoughts, like an infinite circle, overwhelming the individual and amplifying the
anxiety. Hailing from Italy, Alice started her studies in Jewellery design at the Liceo Pietro Selvatico in Padova. She further pursued the Silversmithing and Jewellery design course at the Glasgow School of Art, where she is now in her final year preparing for her degree show. Alice has been exploring the theme of pain and trauma through her collection for the past year to spread awareness about mental health and open a conversation with the public.
Year of production: February 2023
Spiralling
Alice Biolo
@a.biolo.design
Oxidised copper, Steel
Touch – Tickle -Torture
Militsa Milenkova
@militsa_milenkova
Repurposed charred wood, human hair, found rusty hinge and nail
Militsa is an artist and maker based in Glasgow. She creates jewellery and objects as a means of communicating her thoughts and feelings and draws inspiration mainly from her surroundings and personal experiences. In her practice she explores various concepts that intrigue her, while challenging her creativity by experimenting with different materials. The inspiration for this piece comes from medieval torture devices (neck traps). These objects were used for detention and control and were unwillingly worn on the human body by their bearers. Using her own hair as the torturing component, the artist challenges this notion that although hair is assumed to be a sign of beauty, once it is detached from the body, it becomes
unappealing. The piece intends to evoke feelings of discomfort to the viewer and wearer. The act of putting it on is a symbol of oppression and once it is locked around the neck, the bearer can’t escape being tortured by the ticklish nature of the cut hair and the feeling of aversion towards it. As soon as it is taken off, freedom is achieved.
Flow
Aoife M. Hogan
@aoife_mary_
Aoife Hogan (b. 2003) is an artist living on Scotland’s west coast and a student of Painting and Printmaking at The Glasgow School of Art. Her practice moves fluidly across various mediums and is concerned most often with unpicking perceptions of time, place and experience. She is interested in the relationship between writing and making, frequently
drawing influence from books and poetry to create work. Evident throughout is a persistent fascination with materiality and texture. Flow is part of a recent series which, inspired by Robert Macfarlane’s ‘Underland’, seeks to explore the narratives surrounding geological and subterranean landscapes. The work interrogates our age-old relationship with the underland – characterised by both acute attachment and revulsion – which has often existed as a vessel
for those most dark and uncharted areas of our psyche.
Do Not Touch
Eva-Maria Horn
@evimria
Artist Eva-Maria Horn uses photography, performance, and digital media to examine areas of modernity and identity, especially through the lens of language and communication. Eva’s
work often involves some form of audience participation which have spanned from QR codes and webpages to three dimensional interactive objects. Throughout Eva’s artistic practice she has made use of photography, computer programming, 3D printing, and performance. Eva’s work ‘Do Not Touch’ plays with the audience and ironically encourages the viewer to in fact touch the piece. The work features braille spalled across a self-portrait that depicts the self in
a state of vulnerably yet powerfully defensive position. This work dives into areas of identity, individuality, solidarity, and also stays consistent to Eva’s work in that it continues to utilise not only photography but a mix of media to convey the concept and themes. ‘Do Not Touch’
Barrel One
Tom Gibson
@sirtomgibson
Tom Gibson is a conceptual artist that utilises visual media and process art within his work to explore and question ideas of existence, identity, and the connection between the internal and external self. His work touched base with schools of thought of existentialism, semantics, and abstraction to attempt an understanding of the nature of life, reality, and purpose whilst gravitating towards absurdist methodologies. Tom is concerned with posing, rather than answering, questions, putting his focus on investigating the status behind normality, subjectivity, and bias.
Listen to the birds
Amy Anna Graham
@aa_graham_spsace
Scrap pine wood and steel
Amy Anna’s current practice involves the manifestation of space and the exploration of various communicative forms, she establishes phrases and simplifies the visual text down into sequence and rhythm. Method: “LISTEN TO THE BIRDS” “6 2 3 5” “|||||| || ||| |||||” This current mode of working is being used to create repetitive movement and rhythm. Her works now becoming forms of communication that can be felt, read, and played. It Invites visitors to unravel their hidden message like opening a scroll. Amy Anna’s works are usually constructed from wood, experimenting with its form and attempting to curve and bend the material though various cutting methods. Her sculptural works when paired with text are often circular, leaning into the repetitive and eternal nature of its natural rotation, denoting a ridge for each of its letters. The phrases are then repeated as mantras in an infinite circle. This specific piece “listen to the birds” is one of three sculptures that were a part of an exhibition held in The Hidden Gardens in Pollockshields. The phrases selected for each wheel originated from interacting with the community, asking what the Gardens meant to people in the community, and what they felt should be said about the space.
Mathilda
Rachel Scott
@rachel.artsy
Rachel is a first-year communication design student at Glasgow School of Art. Her work usually revolves around the design sphere, focusing on illustration and graphics; however, in her spare time, she enjoys oil painting. Reoccurring motifs throughout her work are patterns, repetition and layering which is evident in this piece - experimenting with distortions of the face.
Hand to Hand
Ellie Forestal Smith
e_forestalsmith
Ellie Forestal Smith is currently in her second year at Glasgow School of Art studying Painting and Printmaking. She primarily works with acrylic and mixed media to explore the intimacy of everyday life and the subtlety of human relationships whilst capturing a suggestion of domestic spaces and the feelings attached to them. Her pieces create room for the viewer to do some work themselves in figuring out the narrative of her compositions, which is done by utilising negative space and making the in-between spaces often more concrete. She is inspired by and is conscious of observing her surroundings and is awake to the particular
nature and qualities of them, which is an important part of her practice.
Guise
Julia Hap
juliahapart
Oil paint
Julia enjoys finding what is overlooked and sharpening it into focus. Like a camera, gathering snapshots of reality through textures, subjects, colours and sounds. The Artist’s practice happens at the intersection of painting, photography, writing, dance, sound and moving image. She is inspired by natural phenomena, especially water, decay and transience. Julia is
interested in Psychogeography in relation to natural environments vs infrastructure. She draws on Slavic mythology, folklore and ritual as a way to investigate different ways of perceiving and the changing face of communities worldwide. She uses dream images, deliberate observation and fantasy to create a personal iconography which seeks to explore aspects of the zeitgeist from a different angle. In particular, the effects of a growing coexistence with emerging technologies. ‘Guise’ is an exploration of dissociation and
performativity. In the work, the material or second skin becomes a coat, an embodied performance. Humans adhere to various social scripts and alter their behaviour accordingly, often unconsciously. This is challenging to someone experiencing disconnection from their
surroundings, as well as themselves. Julia wants to highlight that as bitter as it is, dissociation is a protective mechanism. It keeps up the momentum of life until it feels lighter again.
Bacchanalia
Jacob Oliver
@jfo.__
Digital photograph
First year GSA Fine Art Photography student Jacob Oliver explores the intangible things that seep through the gaps within and in-between photographs. Inspired by the aesthetics of Robin Friend’s Apiary and Mandel & Sultan’s Evidence, these pictures are an excerpt from a project exploring magic-realism within a narrative based loosely on the novel The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
Poppy Fraser is a Bristol-born artist currently studying Fine Art: Painting and Printmaking, in her final year at the Glasgow School of Art. Her intentions, through her creative practice, are to make the viewer look more closely at figures occupying space. Poppy is a multidisciplinary artist. Photographs are the main starting point to her work, whether in the form of found images, family photo albums or photographs she’s taken on her 35mm camera to capture a
moment in time. These then inform her output in a variety of different mediums including printmaking, drawing and painting. Using these mediums, she explores themes of feminism, family, memory, time, roots and nostalgia.
Three Grannies
Poppy Fraser
poppy_fraser_art
Screenprint
Indecipherable
Thomas Main
@tmainphoto
As an artist who has an interest in human nature and the human condition his preference
is to use inanimate objects in order to make a series of portraits rather than humans themselves. However, with this work, Indecipherable, a human sitter has been utilised as a reaction to a previous critique where his work was described as unreadable.
The Building
Ellis Bairstow
@ellis.bairstow
Ellis Bairstow is a Glasgow based photographer that looks at the world around him and the people that live in it. Ellis usually focuses on portraiture and documentary photography with people at the centre of his art practice. ‘The building’ is a change from the artist’s norm where he chose to look at residential buildings that dominate our environment and have built communities around them, it presents the questions of how you view these focal points of our towns and cities.
The Sower
Esther Douglas
estherdouglasart
Lino print
Esther is a painter and printmaker studying at Glasgow School of Art. Her figurative drawings and paintings seek to communicate a narrative through observation and celebration of the everyday. She is drawn to depictions of faces and figures as ways to tell stories through her art. Key themes in her work include explorations of shared human experience and noticing beauty in the mundane. This reduction lino print of 'The Sower' attempts to prompt thinking about the value and beauty that exists in the everyday
Stuck
Abbey Coats
@acoats.art
Abbey Coats (b.2001) is a Glasgow based artist currently in her second year at Glasgow School of Art on the Fine Art: Painting and Printmaking course. She works predominantly within the medium of painting, trying to deconstruct and explore it through experimentation. Most recently Abbey has been working on creating impressions and trying to capture marks through interesting and unconventional means. This is what has been showcased in this recent work “stuck” which was created by throwing paint soaked rags at the unprimed canvas. In this work the rag impressions seem to be frozen in their shapes that they take in flight while thrown.
The Wicker’s Not for Burning
Michael Dudgeon
@michaeldudgeonartwork
Michael Dudgeon is a Glasgow-based artist who works across printmaking, drawing, and painting. He creates darkly humorous works that often have a political focus. He sees gallows humour as a vital tool when attacking a corrupt power structure. His most recent work is a body of satirical prints focusing on the undying and undead presence of Margaret Thatcher in today’s neoliberal political circumstances. These include an etching of Thatcher as a doner kebab on a rotating grill, titled “The Lady’s Not for Turning”, and a mezzotint on a lithograph, depicting her as a ghost, haunting catacombs under 10 Downing Street. “The Wicker’s not for Burning” uses imagery from The Wicker Man
(1973) and the perhaps more shocking appearance of Margaret Thatcher to evoke a sense of cultish horror. 50 years on from the release of the film, the Tory government pushes for the UK to become increasingly separatist and unquestioning of the evil motives behind amoral decisions, with a ruling style echoing the (much more charismatic) Lord Summerisle. The monolithic figure behind Thatcher takes on multiple guilts, national shames, and the ever-burning omnishambles that is UK politics. Who would Thatcher have put in her wicker man?
The vegan butcher part 1
Stina Alden
@stina.alden
Stina Aldén was born 1997 in Sweden. She moved to Glasgow 2021 to continue her studies at Glasgow School of Art. Her work is mainly focused on her heritage and her identity within that. If Stina would describe the work she makes, the word "confused" is probably the first word that would come up. Confused as an artist, but also as a person. The work she makes is simply a way of trying to make sense out of the life she is living. She is doing this by questioning her background, being raised in a very masculine and labour focused environment. But also by questioning her own identity and persona, and the structures that conflicts with her being. In other words, pretty much everything. Like we all do in one way or another.
Tul on the Columbia
Claire Duquesne
@clairencecourt
Claire is a child of the Pacific Northwest, born of a French father and Mexican mother. Her first photograph, taken at age 5 while camping in the Redwood Forest, was of her parents’ hands trying to make it into the frame. Having grown up with an old Nikon camera and being inspired at a young age by the likes of Robert Doisneau, Annie Liebovitz’ early work, Barry Feinstein’s shots of Bob Dylan and Vivian Maier’s keen eye, she sees moments best through film photographs. She is first and foremost a collector of moments. People, how they are defined by their historical context, shaped by the culture they make up and the spaces they live in, are her greatest fascination.
Admin
Jonathan Pratt
@Skodeer
Since early 2020, I have been researching instances in which security and surveillance cameras, both industrial and consumer grade, can be breached and accessed without permission or knowledge from their original owners. Through this I found numerous websites that would facilitate the unauthorised access of devices, in this case cameras connected to the internet via their IP address, and decided to illustrate how easy this is to achieve and how dangerous this can be to those who have not appropriately secured their devices.
The ‘Admin’ project aims to confront the public with an insight into the potential for the camera to be used as an unbiased tool for perverse and predatory means. The work, presented as both a physical book and video installation, documents instances in which technology intended to provide security has been neglected and abused, resulting in a scenario where it proves to be more harmful than it is beneficial. Intentionally vague, the project intends to coerce the viewer into imagining the many malicious ways in which these cameras could be utilised by those who now have unrestricted access to not only the visual stream from the device, but also its data, including passwords, locations and personal information.
Sommier Onirique
Axl Kasper
@axlkasper
Axl Kasper is a French photographer who studies at the Glasgow School of Art. As an artist, he dives into the depths of his inner self to capture the essence of his existence. His work is not only about capturing what he sees but about exploring the emotions and feelings within himself. Axl uses his environment as a tool to express the anxiety that is present in most of us. In his work, you will find symbols representing life’s complexities and the human experience. Through the use of self- portraits, Axl is capturing his own emotions as well as demonstrating the universal struggle of being.
Wish You Were Here
Miranda Selina Johnson
@mirandaselina.art
Recycled sterling silver and smokey quartz
Miranda is a Silversmithing & Jewellery Design student at Glasgow School of Art. ‘Wish You Were Here’ is an alternative interpretation of the traditional souvenir, incorporating themes of ancestry and displacement. This piece is inspired by what is left behind and what could have been. Found objects from beaches cast in solid silver act as tangible links between the past, present and future.
Purchases enquires - contact us at staff@alchemyexperiment.com