Greenock's George Wyllie museum has fantastic views - inside and out

I've been writing about George for 45 years. I know he'd be delighted at the elegant Wyllieum Gallery dedicated to him. This sleek modern building, designed by award winning architect Richard Murphy, is a triumph. Two wings, one for Inverclyde Cruise Centre, the other for the Wyllieum, embrace a terrace with spectacular views across the Clyde.

Scott’s flagship restaurant sits on top, providing dining with a panoramic sea view. A great addition to Greenock’s waterfront which welcomes 100 cruise ships a year. Ocean Terminal is a popular port of call for 250,000 tourists who now have a gallery to enjoy as they step off their ship. The Wyllieum's spectacular is a large gallery looking up the Clyde which features his famous tripod spires, along with sketches and notebooks.

Preview of The Wyllieum, a new space dedicated to the work and legacy of artist George Wyllie. Pictured in middle is Andy McGregor who designed the exhibition (holding a steel question mark by George Wyllie) with co-curators Will Cooper and Sara Barker (Image: free)

Another space holds models for his best known works, like the Straw Locomotive. Murphy also designed Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery, and Dundee’s Contemporary Arts. Shortly the final flourish of roof-top funnels will be installed. “As a home for George’s work the building needs to provoke!” laughs the Trust’s Murray Grigor.

The first smaller gallery contains various archive pieces from Wyllie's workshop including a 3-foot model of the Paper Boat plus another of the Straw Locomotive. There are some rough sketches full of George’s often crazy ideas.  

On the opposite wall is a very informative colourful display of photographs right from the two-year-old George with his brother and family followed by delightful shots of the 15-year-old performer with his ukulele, singing and dancing. I had no idea that George began his stage career so early on,  amateur or not he obviously loved every second and continued to do so right up until he was 90. 

The second gallery with its beautiful semi circular wall of glass makes a splendid home for 11 spires large and small. Both galleries are well labelled so that people who are not so familiar with the George Wylie story will be able to follow his remarkable life. I was privileged, to know George well but as time goes on few folk will understand that his personality was 50% of his art. This documentation will help preserve his legacy.

Long before it was fashionable Wyllie was asking questions about ecology, pollution, monetarism, colonialism, capitalism. The question mark became his trademark.

He called his work "Scul?ture” replacing the "p” with a question mark. Thatcherism especially fueled many a tirade sprinkled with quirky jokes. His work was surreal, a mix of Dada and jazz. Wyllie was a Neo-Dad-ist with his own take on art, ranging from serious to comic. His razzmatazz showmanship endeared him to all.

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There was a political side too. His comedy tended to overshadow his role as social commentator with a philosophical bias. Wyllie's conception of art as social action, was generous, affirmative, optimistic, essentially celebratory. He proves the point that art does not have to be downbeat to be good or effective. Art is a two-way process.

"What use if there is no audience?” His Straw Locomotive and Paper Boat were enjoyed by thousands. He took art out of the gallery to New York's waterfront, London's Tower Bridge, Rannoch Moor, Arthur’s Seat. A gifted passionate performer, he could engage any audience, any age, any nationality.

A love of music, from jazz to a ukulele never left him. His famous performance with Bill Paterson of A Day Down a Goldmine, is for me a precious memory. His scale of ambition was immense, brave, formidable, risky, wild. With little or no funding, just the backing of his loyal wife, he aimed high. Age 69 he made the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Having served in the Navy in World War Two, and witnessed the devastation of Hiroshima, Wyllie had a special carefree optimism, a daring do. Yet he was also a cynic. Most cynics are dour, serious, no fun. George was witty, clever, quick, with what poet Liz Lochhead described as a “seriously playful” approach to art. His tornado of energy made any event zing. He was a joy to be with.

How did it begin? Kelvingrove is to blame. Inspired by a show of radical Italian art, Wyllie thought he could do better, so went home to build a welding workshop under his suburban Gourock home. His wife often found her cutlery disappearing into her husband's sculptures.

Wyllie was in his late 60s when he took on Glasgow's Finnieston Crane, creating "Straw Locomotive", the star turn of summer 1987, seen by thousands. His life-sized sculpture of wire mesh and straw served as a striking statement on the demise of Glasgow’s heavy industry. 18,000 locomotives had been loaded by that crane onto ships sailing worldwide. Straw Locomotive hung there for six weeks, eventually Viking-like set ablaze, accompanied by bagpipes. The charred remains revealed a Question Mark. Pure, brilliant theatre.

The Wyllieum (Image: free)

Wyllie’s next gig, even more flamboyant, was The Paper Boat. Unveiled at Tramway during Mayfest, it opened to reveal a question mark. Finnieston Crane again served as launching point for the vessel named Q.M., “perhaps Queen Mary, more likely Question Mark,“ he admitted. This multi-faceted project went on to London, Antwerp, Dumfries, arriving in 1990 in Manhattan to great acclaim. I watched QM's final journey sailing under the Forth Bridge, still shiny white and defiant.

Wyllie’s very simple tripod spires were inspired by the work of kinetic American sculptor George Rickey. Coincidently my husband was Rickey’s friend and gallery dealer from 1960 on. Later our Upstate house was near his studio so we visited many times. The spires demonstrate the ease of natural equilibrium.

"We should praise our planet. After all it's the only one we've got!" Wyllie told me. Unlike medieval church steeples, Wyllie's spires were portable, flexible, simplicity itself. “Me at my most minimal.“ He set up spires wherever he went, Berlin, Sarjevo, Amsterdam, Argyll. "It packs up similar to a fishing rod, looks a bit like a gun too, so I have great fun going through customs!” I have watched Wyllie do exactly that, clutching a collapsible 18 foot metal spike concealed in his contraption. Pure performance spiced with satirical imp-like mischief.

They first appeared en masse in Lewis, then Ireland - 32 Spires for Hibernia were first seen bridging a stream outside Derry, half the spires in Northern Ireland, the rest in the Republic.

The show includes some remaining sticks. Wyllie’s spires were meant to be outside. In 1994 I spent a happy August afternoon on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh watching him install a forest of spires "given free movement by gravity in balance with the air, like a sailing ship or flag, in simple rhythm with nature.” Praise to the planet. The two portable spires included in this exhibition lived in the back of Wyllie’s car, ensuring they were never far from his grasp.