Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
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P Bray, Elaine Allison, ‘New Strains’, acylic panels, text, nylon line, 2003.
installation at Lauriston Castle, Edinburgh
Lauriston Castle, Edinburgh
7-21 June
Reviewed by: Giles Sutherland
From Botticelli to Beuys artists have been fascinated by the potential of botany as a basis for their works. Whilst Botticelli used detailed renderings of plants and trees in his Allegoria della Primavera, Beuys, in a work such as Vitex Agnus Castus, drew on the spiritual and medicinal associations of what is known as the 'Chaste Tree'. Such histories and rich associative qualities must have been in the minds of Patricia Bray and Elaine Allison who have collaborated to create New Strains, a site-specific installation in the glasshouses of Lauriston Castle, Edinburgh. The setting is apt, both physically and metaphorically. Three hundred panels of clear acrylic, most of which are inscribed with Latin plant and tree names, hang suspended on translucent wire. As the currents of air circulate within the building, the panels turn and twist delicately. Each moves independently of the other, casting refracted light on the walls and floor, creating patterns of seemingly infinite variation.
The artists' tribute to the ancient goddess Flora – so celebrated by Botticelli – and other earth deities becomes even more pronounced when the Latin names, in translation, are revealed as girls' names, in use even today. So Ilex, Calendula and Papaver – aka Holly, Marigold and Poppy – are celebrated in the form of subtle, ethereal and deeply feminine 'found' poetry. And as the artists point out, their choice of location – in a greenhouse – is no coincidence. Redolent with ideas of germination, propagation and, now, genetic engineering, the glasshouse acts as a fitting metaphor for creativity itself.
Writer detail:
Giles Sutherland
is a writer and critic
Venue detail:
Lauriston Castle
2A Cramond Road South, Davidson's Mains, EDINBURGH EH4 5QD
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