ARTISTS TALKING

Pentagon Business Centre, Glasgow
29 September – 31 October

'Contra-flow' is an exhibition created by the group 5 Sited +, a core of site-specific artists and invited members. It sets out to explore the environment of the Pentagon building and its positioning within the city.

The most memorable works are those which investigate the awkward coupling of those uncomfortable bedfellows – commerce and art. Keith Ashford's work alludes to artificial intelligence, cross-referenced with methods of scientific classification and crude homemade machines. Jacqueline Gunn uses Scalextrics to mimic the nearby motorway traffic, creating probably the most refreshing aspect of the exhibition, when art and leisure collide during a lunchtime Scalextric challenge. Lynn Cox, a partially-sighted artist makes light drawings that convey a sense of movement, encouraging the viewer to re-engage with the act of looking.

Some of the work attempts to bring contradictory imagery into the business centre: Elizabeth Turner shows video projections and photographs of a derelict warehouse, and Bridget Kennedy photographically transplants an area of moorland into this industrial setting. Although visually compelling, the ideas behind these works seems flimsy, focusing on the more obvious aspects of the city with only tenuous links to their surroundings. Janet Ronaldson-Westbury's anecdotal light drawings and references to ballet look strangely out of place, as do the bone china sculptures of Andrea Walsh.

For those familiar with Glasgow, this is an area awash with change. It's synonymous with the urban squalor of Anderston, and in close proximity to the now derelict Washington Street Art Centre. There are echoes of past exhibitions, such as 'Windfall' at the former Seaman's Mission – which helped launch the career of many of Glasgow's most successful artists, and which seemed to harness themes more pertinent to an exploration of place.

This raises the question of whether artists can really explore and get to grips with a city if they don't live or work there. Ultimately 'Contra-flow' leaves a feeling of superficial juxtapositions rather than a real engagement with the gritty dynamics of this fast-moving city.

Janie Nicoll

Janie Nicoll is an artist and arts
coordinator based in Glasgow.

www.axisweb.org/artist/janienicoll