Ian began his talk by posing this question
What is Contemporary Art?
He shortly followed with this definition
That it is art produced and created by artist living today and created within our lifetime, and that today he is going to introduce us to Scottish Contemporary Art that has been created over the last 60 years.
But Contemporary Art can come under two headings Commercial Art and Conceptual Art. The later being an art form where the underlying idea is considered the essential component, for example art by Damien Hirst and those short-listed for the Turner Prize.
Such art requires much cerebral involvement and it was Friday afternoon after all! So after consultation we agree that we would prefer to sit and relax while we listened to him do all the hard work for us. He willingly obliges allowing us a very comfortable afternoon where we were taken to another place and another way of thinking. His enthusiasm for the subject matter was infectious and highly entertaining.
While some of the featured artists and their work were familiar to me there were many that were not and I have enjoyed learning more about them by looking them up on the web, I would urge you to do the same. Happy surfing!
The following is a list of featured artists:-
GARETH FISHER WILLIAM LITTLEJOHN
ELIZABETH BLACKADDER IAN MACENZIE SMITH
JOAN EARDLEY VICTORIA CROWE
ANN REDPATH ANN ORAM
ROBIN PHILLIPSON JAMES MORRISON
EDUARDO PAOLOZZI MATTHEW DRAPER
JAMES MACINTOSH PATRICK ANNE ROSS
ALBERTO MORROCCO CLAIRE HARRIGAN
LEON MORROCCO FRANCIS BOAG
JACK MORROCCO KATE DOWNIE
JOHN BELLANY JOHN BROWN
JOHN HOUSTON HAMISH MACDONALD
BARBARA RAE GEORGE DEVLIN
WILL MACLEAN DUNCAN SHANKS
DAVID MACH DAVID GREENALL
STEVEN CAMPBELL JOHN KINGSLEY
KEN CURRIE ALISON WATT
PETER HOUSEN AVRIL PATON
JOHN BYRNE ALEXANDER FRASER
FRANCES WALKER SUE JANE TAYLOR
HELEN DENERLEY GLEN SCOULLER
JIM WYLLIE ANN WEGMULLER
JAMES MCNAUGHT LYNDSEY LAVENDER