IT’S the day after the opening of Recoat’s new exhibition, The Holiday Special, and gallery director Alistair Wyllie is sipping from a bottle of Lucozade – a sure sign that the previous night’s party was a success. “It went really well, aye,” he confirms, “we probably sold about half of the stuff on offer.”
Sure enough, the walls of the gallery are covered in tell-tale red dots. To the right of the door, a striking, semi-abstract composition in orange, yellow and black by Scrawl Collective member Stefan Plaetz has already been snapped up. A series of sm
aller pictures by playfully provocative Fifer Kirsty Whiten have also gone, as have two intricately stencilled skateboard decks by Klingatron and a detailed drawing of a gun by hyper-realist Russell Dempster. The biggest seller of the 30-plus artists in this group show, however, has been Edinburgh-based graffiti artist Elph. Wyllie says people were phoning the gallery looking to buy Elph originals before the exhibition had even opened.
As celebrity spray-can renegade Banksy has shown, street art is now considered eminently collectible: in April last year his Space Girl & Bird (spray paint on steel) fetched £288,000 at a London auction. At the Holiday Special, though, all the work is on sale for £40 or less. At such bargain-basement prices, it’s a wonder there’s anything left.
There are certainly one or two things here that Banksy would kill to have his name on. In a tongue-in-cheek nod to the original Star Wars trilogy, ROGUEONE has an AT-AT Walker cocking one of its hind legs like a dog and urinating against a wall. (In case you slept through the 1980s, AT-ATs were the giant four-legged battle machines that laid waste to the rebel base on the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. They fired lasers from their heads, but George Lucas never had them urinating on anything.) There are some great artistic one-liners by Andrew Rae too, although his work is perhaps more comparable to that of surrealist doodler extraordinaire, David Shrigley.
Glasgow has become a major centre for conceptual art in recent years, with galleries like Sorcha Dallas and Mary Mary joining The Modern Institute in representing Scotland’s cutting edge artists-cum-thinkers. But Recoat is a very different proposition. Founded by Wyllie and his partner Amy Whiten 15 months ago, its goal is to promote and sell what Whiten has called “products, and quality, and nice big finished things”. Wyllie is keen to stress that they don’t have anything against the conceptual crowd – it’s just that they’re trying to do something different.
“I could fill the gallery with that stuff [conceptual art],” he says, “but it’s not something I claim to know anything about, so I’d feel like a total charlatan.”
Wyllie and Whiten are both artists themselves. Wyllie comes from a graffiti background, while Whiten shares her sister Kirsty’s penchant for sexually explicit images with in-your-face titles. The art that floats their collective boat is typically bold in design and execution – the kind of thing that can explain itself without a long, ponderous wall text hanging alongside.
The idea to open Recoat, which occupies a central but tucked-away location in Glasgow’s West End, grew out of round-the-world trip that saw Wyllie and Whiten visit Japan, the Antipodes and mainland Europe. On their travels they were struck by the fact that, while street art in the rest of the world seemed to have gallery representation of some kind, there were no dedicated outlets for it back home, even though Scotland had its own vibrant scene.
Their opening exhibition in July 2007 was a real statement of intent, featuring work by legendary New York graffiti artists CRASH and DAZE as well as homegrown talents including Andrew Rae, Russell Dempster and Kirsty Whiten, and since then they have managed to keep up an impressive workrate of an exhibition a month.
Highlights thus far have included an exhibition-cum-residency from graffiti artist and fashion designer INSA, which featured a huge mural covering an entire wall of the gallery, and a live “paint jam” in which London-based artists, Sheone, O.Two and Stefan Plaetz teamed up with Scots Elph, Lyken and Rekorto to paint the archway beside the gallery.
Wyllie’s fondest memory, though, is of an all-night show-hanging session with Elph on the eve of his big solo exhibition, Spirits and Bitumen.
“Elph’s a lovely guy,” says Wyllie, “but he can be a bit erratic. The night before his show we were in here hanging the work until about eight in the morning. Most of the work was already done, but there were still a couple of pieces that weren’t finished, and they were pretty major pieces, too. Anyway, about half way through the night Elph just got his paints out and finished them off. He seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing.”
Erratic or not, Elph is the nearest thing the Scottish graffiti community has to a Banksy. Whether his work will ever sell for six-figure sums remains to be seen, but while Recoat continues to offer a street art in this country a forum, its profile – and its value – will continue to grow.
&149 The Holiday Special is at Recoat, Glasgow, until 21 December. tel: 0141-341 0069; w
ww.recoatdesign.com
WHERE TO BUY IN THE CENTRAL BELTEDINBURGH ART FAIR
CORN EXCHANGE, EDINBURGH 21-23 NOVEMBER
Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange will be transformed into a giant art supermarket this weekend. With 60 different galleries exhibiting, some from as far afield as the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Canada, there really should be something for everyone. Big names up for grabs include John Bellany, Peter Howson and controversial graffiti artist Banksy.
• Tel: 01875 819595
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www.artedinburgh.comTO BRING FORTH AND GIVE
GLASGOW PRINT STUDIO 28 NOVEMBER UNTIL 20 DECEMBER
Fifteen artists represented by the Sorcha Dallas Gallery in Glasgow have been invited to work with the master printmakers at GPS – the results are on sale now.
• Tel: 0141-552 0704 /
www.gpsart.co.ukEDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS’ WINTER EXHIBITION
EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS
UNTIL 23 DECEMBER
A huge selection of limited edition prints, hand-made at the Edinburgh Printmakers studio by more than 50 local artists. Prices start at just £30 and top out at £855.
• Tel: 0131-557 2479
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www.edinburgh-printmakers.co.ukSMALL PAINTINGS
THE MORNINGSIDE GALLERY, EDINBURGH
UNTIL 24 DECEMBER
A nice idea this: for the run-up to Christmas, the folks at the Morningside Gallery have asked their regular roster of artists to produce a range of small, affordable paintings. ECA graduate Mark Edward’s 26cm x 26cm box canvas Fish of Plenty I – part of an ongoing series inspired by the meditative qualities of Koi carp – looks like a steal at just £180.
• Tel: 0131-447 3041
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www.morningside gallery.co.ukON A SMALL SCALE
OPEN EYE GALLERY, EDINBURGH
29 NOVEMBER UNTIL 24 DECEMBER
As the name suggests, this is another exhibition of works on a small scale, this time by Chris Bushe, left, George Donald, Philip Reeves, Leon Morrocco and Jane Hyslop. All pictures will be exhibited unframed and shown banked throughout one gallery. Prices range from £100 to £500.
• Tel: 0131-557 1020
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www.openeyegallery.co.ukTHE WINTER COLLECTION
CYRIL GERBER FINE ART, GLASGOW
21 NOVEMBER UNTIL 31 JANUARY
Even if you can’t afford them, be sure to take a peek at the early oil paintings by Elizabeth Blackadder that form part of this show. Other featured artists include Joan Eardley, Robin Philipson, Alan Davie, Anthony Caro and Henry Moore.
• Tel: 0141-221 3095
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www.gerberfineart.co.ukCHRISTMAS EXHIBITION 2008
THE SCOTTISH GALLERY, EDINBURGH 3-24 DECEMBER
Exhibition includes seasonal art by David Cook, Alexander Fraser and Jennifer McRae, and an atmospheric evocation of the Meadows in snow by the superb Henry Kondracki. Prices in the £500 to £1,500 range.
• Tel: 0131-558 1200
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www.scottish-gallery.co.uk