25 March 2012

Glasgow Art Show....mmmm....


Yesterday I headed into Glasgow for a wander round the inaugural Glasgow Art Show at the Thistle Hotel...After attending last years Edinburgh Art Fair in november I was interested to see if galleries on this circuit were displaying fresh artworks from the artists they represent...



After meandering my way through the corridors I finally came across the entrance to the show...I always feel sorry for those exhibitors who have paid their fee to find they are in the corner by the entrance..luck of the draw I guess...

Wandering round it soon became apparent I was viewing occasional works I had seen in Edinburgh from some of the attending galleries...polymer resin coated abstracts,opal dust encrusted paintings that change colour dependent on your angle of view to name a few...

I like to get up close and look at the brushwork etc of certain pieces...on an occasion yesterday an over zealous gallery member of staff/owner enquired within a minute if I was interested in the artists work and would I like to purchase one as he had six on display...I replied I was just browsing at the moment thank you and slowly withdrew...

I guess the format gets predictable but it must work for the organisers and for the galleries as paintings were being wrapped...and as I overheard one member of public say to gallery staff "art is subjective isn't it"...

My favourite booth was " Other Points Of View " which consisted of 5 artists attending as a collective...

I got chatting to one David Brightmore after being drawn to and admiring his vibrant acrylic and ink figure-scape paintings...the collective consisted of 5 guys who went to uni in Sheffield back in the 60's...David's work can be viewed here...

After chatting about the current environment of the art market business with the guy on the Ginny Gray stand the words "peaks and troughs" were confirmed...

Much like other businesses in these economic times I suppose...