James McLardy
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Born: 1975, Chesterfield
Lives: Glasgow
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1996 � 1999 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Sculpture, Glasgow School of Art
1994 � 1996 Architecture, Mackintosh School of Architecture
1993- 1994 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Chesterfield College
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2012 The Swan and Hostage, The Duchy, Glasgow
2009 Common Soul, Outpost Gallery, Norwich
2008 Part Lost Objects, Project Room, Glasgow
2006 Ivory Stages, Glasgow Sculpture Studios Gallery
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2012 Pavilion, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow
CAVEartfair, 7th Liverpool Biennial
Petrosphere II, Glasgow International Festival
ALL, Mitchell Library, Glasgow (as part of G.I and touring nationally)
Artists for Athens Pride (curated by Andrea Gilbert), The Breeder, Athens
2011 You, Me and Someone Else, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
Industrial Aesthetics, Hunter College, Times Sq Gallery, New York
Petrosphere, REMAP 3, Athens
2010 Between here and Somewhere Else, Copenhagen
New Life, 1005 Argyle Street, Glasgow
Must I Paint You a Picture? Transmission members show, Glasgow
2009 The Fa�ade Within, The Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
Die Die Die, Transmission members show, Glasgow
2007 Secure in flames, Intermedia gallery, Glasgow
ES, Catalyst Arts, Belfast
2006 News From Nowhere, Radius, Glasgow
Solo Show , Transmission members show, Glasgow
Art Futures,Glasgow Art Fair
Pit Peace, Film Screening, Miners Welfare, Halfway
2005 Re-Escape, Hamburg, Germany
Leviathan, Leather Lane�, London
With Bow and Drill, Project Space, Tramway, Glasgow
One night and One day, Film screening, NMS, Edinburgh
The Beginning of an Endless Desire, Extension, Glasgow Art Fair
2004 Last Chance To Turn Around , Intermedia gallery, Glasgow
Forever green, Paisley Museum
2001 Sometime Instant, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
2000 Radio Tuesday, KIASMA, Helsinki, Finland
Louder than love, De Zeyp Cultural Centre, Brussels
World Tune Project, Helsinki, Finland
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McLardy�s work explores hierarchy within the use of colour, material and effect, collaging the fake and the real nature of materials in order to question grandeur and authenticity. The result of specifically learned skills and techniques, McLardy�s work creates discourse between appearance and value, contrasting meticulously rendered peacock-like facades with more expressive and ebullient elements. Recently characterised by large, monumental sculptures crafted to an opulent finish, McLardy�s work aims to destabilise the elevated aesthetic of his constructions through a disconnected use of form and finish.
He combines series of pedestals, objects and frame like structures, exhibiting them alongside work with wax components and decorative paint techniques, including faux marble, wood graining and imitation bronze patinas. His work explores the exposition of material fakery to question whether intensely working a material gives value beyond its materiality.
Presented as segments of pillars, classical columns, monolithic plinths, Grecian vase-like vessels and symbols reminiscent of Art Deco design, these forms are often disrupted by brightly pigmented wax: moulded, hammered, tied, clad in copper leaf and poured into wedges, marking out a provocative palette in various emulations. Invoking associations with elegance, glamour, simplicity and functionality, the use of Art Deco insignia laments a pre-modern era wherein decoration was at one with design, whilst asserting McLardy�s continued interest in the aesthetics of the 1930s, a decade of boom and bust which has parallels to current times.
A disparity is created between the seriousness, hi-art and discipline evocative of these shapes and effects, and the looseness of melted and hand-sculpted elements, experimenting with the malleable, erratic qualities of wax to create uncertain relationships. With contrast as a constant in McLardy�s work, he employs the material in both soft and solid forms: soft fleshy wax set against the hard-edge geometry of the objects, the glossy waxen moulds forming plinths and blocks; the impermanent and changing quality of the material at odds with its prominent inclusion in the base or support of the sculptures. Aware of the various connotations the material has: religious, ritualistic, romantic, historic, industrial, domestic and artistic, it is also used to evoke emotional and associative reactions.
In a similar way, McLardy plays with historical and traditional references of the use of bronze, applying copper leaf to imitate bronze and its oxidization, and reproducing patinas on the surface of sculpted MDF objects. This �negative� patina creates numerous oxymora; genuine patinas, the result of time-aged chemical reaction on the surface of the alloy, protect and mask an object�s value, whereas McLardy�s copy seeks to assign grandeur through a materialist illusion. Here the artist plays with the viewer�s sensation of worth, both in the discernment of the object and the perceived skill in its making, pushing the meaning and value of each material into permanent contradiction.
This quizzical and self-effacing approach saturates McLardy�s practice, continually re-presenting his sculptures with new integrities. He seeks to challenge the association of skill with worth and uncover the real value of modern objects, suggesting that a more meaningful and provocative conclusion can be envisaged.
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2012 Talent, Creative Scotland �the research and development of new work�
Quality Production, Creative Scotland (in support of Petrosphere II)
2011 International investment, Creative Scotland (in support of Petrosphere)
2010 British Council artist award (Denmark)
2009 Scottish Arts Council, Creative and professional development award
2007 Scottish Arts Council, Professional development award
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2012 The Duchy Gallery, artist in residence, Glasgow
2011 Atelier Public, Glasgow gallery of modern art
2010 Cove Park, Residency, supported by Esm�e Fairbairn Foundation
Danish Art Workshops (SVK), Artist in Residence, Copenhagen
2009 Commission, Midlothian Community Hospital
2008 Commission, (w RMJM architects), Ruchill Park, Glasgow
2007 Commission, NVG Glasgow
2006 New Victoria Gardens, Artist in Residence, Jenny Crowe Projects
2006 Commission, Miners Welfare, Rutherglen
2005 Rutherglen Town Hall, Artist in Residence
2002 The Whitechapel Gallery, Artist residency, London
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2011 Industrial Aesthetics, exhibition catalogue, Hunter, NY
2010 This is Central Station, catalogue, ISO
2008 Drawn from the Wishing Well, DVD, RMJM
2008 Rule of Thumb, Exhibition Catalogue, GOMA
2006 Placed up on the horizon, essays by Niall MacDonald and Ruth Barker
2006 Recast - publication of drawings, Trajectory
2005 Extraordinary Everyday, Project Catalogue, Artlink Edinburgh
2002 Sometime Instant, Audio CD, Transmission Gallery
2000 Radio Tuesday, Audio Cassette, Radio Tuesday
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SIMON LEE, London presents
IN LINES AND REALIGNMENTS
26 July - 28 August 2013
Simon Lee Gallery is proud to present In Lines and Realignments, a group exhibition curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas and Thom O'Nions which brings together the work of six artists currently living and working in Sao Paulo along with documentation of a work by Brazilian conceptual artist Cildo Meireles
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Hammelehle und Ahrens, Cologne presents
ANDREAS RUTHI
until 27 July 2013
Ruthi works directly from observation, creating complex formal compositions that bring together a variety of interests, with art historical references, found objects and his personal history all occupying equal importance and value of meaning. This exhibition can be seen to show the development of Ruthi's distinct painterly style with new paintings made during the last four years, split into two series ? the book paintings and the more recent Morandiesque still life paintings.
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Caroline Pages Gallery, Lisbon presents DRISS OUADAHI
27 June - 21 September 2013
Driss Ouadahi is an Algerian artist, born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1959. Throughout his artistic career, Driss Ouadahi has created special links between architecture and painting. The resulting works are abstract compositions featuring grid patterns, whose density evokes the architecture of the outskirts of big cities and their tightly woven networks of high-rise housing.
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