Art

Steven Claydon’s tribal ‘artefacts’ – on show in Glasgow and on the Isle of Bute – cast us all as magpies drawn to exotic treasures

It’s fascinating to see work by those inspired by Caravaggio, but none of them surpass the master

A major new exhibition on Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites is facing protests today over claims it has sidelined the Gaelic language.

The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh has been urged by experts to overhaul its entire approach to the arts after the controversial closure of its long-running gallery.

Well, I’ve got my comeuppance. No sooner do I write a review bemoaning the near complete absence of artist statements at the Glasgow School of Art Degree Show than I find myself in Aberdeen at Gray’s School of Art, where they take the opposite approach. Here, every student has been drilled to write a summary of their practice and their degree show work in 125 words. What is more, they’ve clearly been instructed to make it accessible to the lay person, and as far as possible, devoid of art-speak.

Edinburgh’s civic masterpiece is celebrated in this wonderful show, writes Duncan Macmillan

Glasgow used to be the second city of the British Empire, an industrial powerhouse with a population of more than two million. This has now shrunk to around 600,000, a change clearly articulated by the vast number of vacant buildings and sites.

Clydeside, stretching from Glasgow, through Paisley, Renfrew and out to Greenock - was once the engine room of the British Empire. A land of shipyards, foundries, factories, mills, and brickworks. But by the 1970s the empire was gone and so to was much of Scotland’s heavy industry.

Back when the annual LeithLate mini-festival of art, music and general cultural congregation first arrived in 2011, Leith was a different place. Physically, the change has been slight, with new blocks of student housing appearing here and there, yet in character it’s changed markedly; there are now hundreds more students and young families, with gentrified bars and coffee shops to maintain them. The area has a youthful, cosmopolitan feel which stands alongside the down-to-earth and sometimes rough character of the place from decades before.

The revamped Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries has been given two nods at a presitgious architecture awards.

Twelve of Scotland’s most exciting new buildings have been recognised by the prestigous Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Awards 2017.

Scientific tests have been launched to try to crack a long-standing riddle over the true identity of the artist behind one of Glasgow's most celebrated paintings - and their enigmatic subject.

Among Scotland’s art schools, Glasgow School of Art is the largest and the only one which is still independently run. Its Degree Show is awaited with particular anticipation because of its pedigree for producing top contemporary artists. This year, more than 130 undergraduates in Fine Art set out their stall (literally) in partitioned spaces in the Tontine Building in Trongate, while another cohort of MFAs exhibit in the Glue Factory.

Sitting in the cafe at Tramway, you would be forgiven for thinking that half-a-dozen films were being played simultaneously next door, minus the dialogue. A chase sequence in one seems to run into a moment of suspense in another and a helicopter landing in a third.

Blurring the lines between theatre, art and performance, Normanslanding at Tramway is an evolving project, says director Graham Eatough

From portraits of aircraft crash sites to sculptures incorporating fake pound coins, this year’s ECA degree show is bursting with big ideas

It began with a painting. In May 1843, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland made history when more than 400 ministers walked out to form the Free Church. David Octavius Hill was a painter, and brother-in-law to one of the dissenting clergy. He wanted to immortalise the moment in a large-scale history painting. He began almost straight away, making studies of the people involved and planning the composition, but he had more than 400 ministers to paint and only a matter of days before they returned to their parishes all over Scotland. Sir David Brewster, physicist and keen amateur photographer, suggested a solution: why not use the new medium of photography to capture his source material? He knew just the man to help.