Skip to main content

Duck Hunt at Rhubaba Gallery

(originally published by The Student)

     There's a real air of nostalgia in Rhubaba's tiny warehouse-gallery in Leith. Corrugated iron doors and white-washed walls are made homely by the sheer amount of sound coming from the installations and the street outside. Art made from tin cans and magazine collage provides a hopeful, home-made feeling and something every visitor can recognise.
     The launch last Saturday of Rhubaba's latest occupation by InterCity MainLine (ICML) was nearly rained off. Co-director Rachel Adams explained that “turn-out wasn't as good as we were hoping because of the weather. But it turned into more of a fun experiment this way” , and the Watercolour Challenge paintings made by members of the public will be put into ICML's next Edinburgh-based zine publication.
     ICML's five artists, each originating from Bristol, like to explore, share ideas and experiences of different cities, then collaborate to form art like the zine and Duck Hunt.
Rhys Coren's OO shows two TV screens showing flickering, brightly-coloured drawings to an energetic soundtrack which makes it seem like we're watching the opening credits of a Saturday morning cartoon. From across the gallery comes the cacophonous sounds of Myles Donaldson's work which has to be reached by climbing a set of wooden stairs. At the top we don't find some kind of monster making the noise, but a nine-framed video of children playing with hoovers, a surprising instalment which verges on the whimsical. These two pieces in particular bring back memories of home videos, lazy weekends as a child with nothing to watch, and the eighties childhoods of all five artists.
     From the flourescent light made of Red Stripe cans that makes Jamie Bracken Lobb's Not Just Wizards Carry Staffs to Tom Hobson's cut-and-stick Towards the Great Untrodden Summit, Duck Hunt shows us an exploration of the near-past which is referential, adaptive, and most importantly, understandable to the viewing public. Don't let the corrugated iron doors fool you- this is a whole-heartedly friendly gallery.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Edinburgh Sustainability Awards

(originally published by The Student )      THE UNIVERSITY is set to launch its first Sustainability Awards to help reduce its environmental impact. A ceremony later in the year will see awards given to the teams which complete the most environmentally friendly challenges in an online workbook provided by the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA).      Last year the University of Edinburgh was accredited Gold in the NUS' Environmental Impact Awards, and was the overall UK winner. This, the two-year-old Green Impact Scheme, compared Universities from across the country in terms of sustainability and global awareness. EUSA's newest venture is a similar scheme within the University itself, encouraging teams to think of new ways to reduce our effect on the world outside of Edinburgh.      Teams can be made up of staff and students in every part of the University, and will be accredited with Bronze, Silver or Go...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

(originally published by  The Student )      In 2008 a fresh-faced Lykke Li Zachrisson told the Guardian why she no longer want to be a dancer- “I want to be on stage and travel the world and live passionately and have love affairs and get drunk.” Since debut Youth Novels , Lykke Li has toured the world, ticking boxes one and two, and with this album sings through the other three.      The new album Wounded Rhymes takes its name from a line in one of the last and most mellow songs on the album- Sadness is a Blessing . Here she uses melodies and lyrics reminiscent of a 60s girl-band, with lines like “Sadness is my boyfriend / Oh, Sadness, I'm your girl”. An otherwise decent song is weakened by Li's voice, which here sounds sickly-sweet rather than the more sinister melodies heard elsewhere.      First track Youth Knows No Pain opens with a darkly energetic style which introduces us to the heavy, tribal-sounding dr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Populaire - film review

     In the 50s, having a job as a secretary may have been considered modern, or even empowering, but mostly, as Rose Pamphyle (Déborah Francois) says in her job interview, it's the chance to work for an important man. Seen in this light, the rise and fall of a Speed-Typing champion is just as much to do with a woman's personal victory as it is to do with her boss' encouragement and coaching, as well as the freedom he allows her to have.      In the film, and in life, the Speed-Typing Championship probably stemmed from a cigar-fuelled "I bet my secretary types faster than yours" argument, and the exclusively female competitors inhabit a space somewhere between real sportsman(woman?)ship and simply being allowed to play. The rocky ground of post-war sexual power-play is tested with bright colours and the happy clack-clack of a typewriter, and leads us somewhere a little more patronising than first-time director Regis Roinsard may have been hoping for. ...
Post a Comment
Read more