Art Reviews: Shadows of the Divine & Gravity's Rainbow
THE SCOTSMAN
By Duncan MacMillan
SCOTLAND - While most protestant churches were pretty hostile to religious art, the Reformation did not mean an end to it. It did mean the game had changed, however.
It was therefore courageous, if optimistic, of the Methodists to defy all this history and start a collection of modern religious art. It is now quite substantial and the bulk of the exhibition Shadows of the Divine, at the University of Edinburgh's New College, is drawn from it. "Shadows of the Divine," Art From the Methodist Collection at New College, University of Edinburgh runs until June 11, 2011.
A contrasting exhibition glorying in colour, Ian Davenport's "Gravity's Rainbow" at Ingleby Gallery, runs until 23 July. In the Old Testament, the rainbow was God's covenant to Noah; his promise there would not be another flood. Gravity's Rainbow is more prosaic. It appears to take its name from paintings by Ian Davenport in which vertical runs of liquid paint pour down the wall to make polychrome puddles on the floor. They are rather beautiful. Distinctly rainbow-like and blessedly free of either angst or overt meaning, they present colour to be celebrated for its own sake. [link]
By Duncan MacMillan
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| "Gravity's Rainbow" by Ian Davenport |
It was therefore courageous, if optimistic, of the Methodists to defy all this history and start a collection of modern religious art. It is now quite substantial and the bulk of the exhibition Shadows of the Divine, at the University of Edinburgh's New College, is drawn from it. "Shadows of the Divine," Art From the Methodist Collection at New College, University of Edinburgh runs until June 11, 2011.
A contrasting exhibition glorying in colour, Ian Davenport's "Gravity's Rainbow" at Ingleby Gallery, runs until 23 July. In the Old Testament, the rainbow was God's covenant to Noah; his promise there would not be another flood. Gravity's Rainbow is more prosaic. It appears to take its name from paintings by Ian Davenport in which vertical runs of liquid paint pour down the wall to make polychrome puddles on the floor. They are rather beautiful. Distinctly rainbow-like and blessedly free of either angst or overt meaning, they present colour to be celebrated for its own sake. [link]
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