{"id":24909,"date":"2019-04-02T13:16:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T12:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/?p=24909"},"modified":"2021-06-28T21:31:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T20:31:13","slug":"review-of-stuart-duffin-exhibition-march-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/review-of-stuart-duffin-exhibition-march-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Stuart Duffin exhibition March 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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https:\/\/commaand.co\/2019\/03\/31\/stuart-duffin-at-the-compass-gallery\/<\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I managed to catch\u00a0Stuart Duffin<\/strong>\u2018s exhibition\u00a0\u201cIf Angels Cast Shadows\u2026.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0on Friday, the day before it finished at the\u00a0Compass Gallery<\/strong>, Glasgow. \u00a0 However, the Gallery keep excellent photographic representations of past exhibitions, so you can find pictures from this exhibition even now on their\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Stuart\u2019s work is immediately recognisable for its draughtsmanship, detailed accuracy of lines, recurring appeals for peace, with symbols of birds, eggs, graffiti, and his great Motif: Jerusalem (in 1996 he had his first residency in The Jerusalem Print Workshop, followed by another brief visit to open a solo show in 1998. \u00a0He has been back on several residencies since.). \u00a0Cezanne had his Mont Sainte-Victoire, Duffin has Jerusalem. \u00a0Best known for his Printmaking, this exhibition is slightly more unusual for containing more paintings. (This exhibition, with expanded printmaking aspect, will transfer to Jerusalem in June)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\u201cI seem to end up in places of conflict or know friends who experienced it in Croatia, Yugoslavia, Russia and Jerusalem all of which have influenced my work and deepened my thoughts\u201d. \u2013 Stuart Duffin, Compass Gallery website<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Style<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"CatalogueReverseIMG_5856\"\r\n
Reverse of Catalogue<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The style of the work ranges from black and white Victorian Gothic \u201cIf Angels Cast Shadows\u201d to pieces of modern graffiti as part of the work. (See pic of reverse of Catalogue)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I absolutely loved the small format mixed media collage on panels , with screws in each corner apparently bleeding aged rust \u2013 (although the \u2018rust\u2019 is painted).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Video<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"IMG_5828\"\r\n
Stuart Duffin video<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The other standout for me was in the centre of the room: an 11 minute video piece\u00a0\u201cStill Dreaming of Jerusalem\u201d<\/strong><\/em>: Stuart\u2019s photography and video work of modern-day Jerusalem, with overlaid typography from an official document reinstating Israel as a nation, with the sunlight gleaming through leaves on a tree (olive branches) \u2013 in such a way that it seemed to be an apparition, almost human form (angel?) breaking through, shimmering into reality. \u00a0The ancient stones are shown underfoot, in walls, framing the moving modern people \u2013 if these walls could cry out \u2013 well, they seem to be, as Stuart\u2019s pictures seem to appear on top of the walls. \u00a0The whole piece is edited with great understanding, with slow mixes and fades, by\u00a0Melanie Sims<\/strong>. \u00a0Lovely contrasts between the moving and the still, text, picture, black and white, colour.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Composer Malcolm Lindsay (on website)<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The music is fittingly compassionate, melancholy and evocative:\u201dJerusalem\u201d by composer\u00a0Malcolm Lindsay<\/strong>\u00a0was itself inspired by \u201cthe street sounds collected by Stuart Duffin in Jerusalem\u201d<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0The music was written based on both the audio sounds and the visual photography brought back from Jerusalem and is an integral part of the whole audio visual piece. \u00a0The music then in turn inspired a return trip to film more footage and also guided a particular approach to choreographing in the final work.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\u201cThe whole thing is very much a cross media collaboration between Malcolm, Melanie and myself \u00a0with each component part informing and inspiring the others.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u2013 Stuart Duffin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

(Although the performance used on the video by BRNO Philharmonic seems more difficult to trace, there is a version readily available with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on the album \u201cMalcolm Lindsay: After the Snow\u201d)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As I watched the video, I stood entranced, half in Glasgow, half in Jerusalem, until the repeating of video images used at the start gave a clue that it was time to re-emerge fully back to Scotland, present day. \u00a0This is the power of good video \u2013 it is a time-based medium but yet helps you travel through time and space to experience other cultures\/places. \u00a0The editing gave it a meditative quality, fitting the title \u201cStill Dreaming of Jerusalem\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"IMG_5831\"\r\n
Compass Gallery<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Compass Gallery<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As well as producing a quality A5 catalogue \u2013 just the right size to carry in the hand \u2013 the Gallery hosted Stuart Duffin in a Q&A about his work, at the exhibition\u2019s launch. \u00a0I was truly impressed by the gallery itself \u2013 staff were genuinely helpful and informative, knowledgeable about the artist\u2019s work and referred me to other sources of information including a\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of the artist\u2019s talk.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Stuart\r\n
Stuart Duffin at Compass Gallery<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"Stuart\r\n
Compass Gallery Stuart Duffin<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It was a very pleasant space to browse art \u2013 there\u2019s something about having paintings and prints, which are essentially flat, displayed among 3D sculptures, interesting furniture and flowers which helps you see them as pieces of art to look good in a home, lived with, enjoyed, not just clinically presented flat slabs in a white box of a room.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I managed to catch\u00a0Stuart Duffin\u2018s exhibition\u00a0\u201cIf Angels Cast Shadows\u2026.\u201d\u00a0on Friday, the day before it finished at the\u00a0Compass Gallery, Glasgow. \u00a0 However, the Gallery keep excellent photographic representations of past exhibitions, so you can find pictures from this exhibition even now on their\u00a0website. Stuart\u2019s work is immediately recognisable for its draughtsmanship, detailed accuracy of lines, recurring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25318,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24909\/revisions\/25318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/compassgallery.co.uk\/2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}