Editorial: Issue 11, Autumn 2007

Against the ever increasing tide of institutional global art gatherings, a quiet yet powerful spirit questions the identity of a whole landscape of manmade sculpture—the West Lothian bings—as they age from industrial site, to heritage area, to artwork, on a journey of transformation which is leading inevitably towards their reclamation by nature. Artist and writer, Craig Richardson, plots and revisits the late John Latham’s conceptual journey into these emotive landmarks, breathing life into this daring project.

This issue artists are also out on the High Street, in pavilions, gardens, galleries, biennials and festivals. Our roster of artists includes two Romanians—Victor Man and Monika Sosnowska, both of whom challenge notions of space and how art is expected to fit into it. Man’s extended painting installations are examined by Italian curator Alessandro Rabbotini, while Sosnowska’s giant works and tiny models are put together by Glasgow-based writer Moira Jeffrey. On the surface of it, Tony Swain has a more traditional approach, but Isla Leaver-Yap finds his painted collage works unique.

The Map Commission brings the lovingly cast characters of Donald Urquhart’s drawings to the page along with the story of his regard for them. While Andy Warhol’s large retrospective opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Urquhart’s work takes the notion of celebrity and graphic portraiture into his own hands, creating a nostalgic, decadent reference to times past in black and white.