IT is a building which has reinvented itself on many occasions having previously been a home, a bank and a library.
Dating back to 1777 when it was commissioned as a mansion for tobacco merchant, William Cunninghame, the Royal Exchange Square site took on a whole new lease of life when it opened its doors as Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in 1996.
And it is a group of nine female artists whose work is taking centre stage as the first new exhibition since the gallery reopened on April 26 with the easing of covid restrictions.
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Falling under the remit of arms-length organisation, Glasgow Life, which runs cultural and sporting venues for the city council, GoMA is marking a celebratory year. However, it comes off the back of difficult time for the ALEO when its ability to generate income was severely hit during the pandemic, despite this Glasgow Life recently pledged to reopen around 90 venues in the city after the council agreed to underwrite a £100 million a year funding guarantee.
Three of the artists whose work is on display, they are from left - Jo Ganter, Kate V Robertson and Jacki Parry. The work in the background is Double Son of Rubble by artist Sara Barker. Photograph by Colin Mearns.
Drink in the Beauty is the first show to celebrate the 25th anniversary year of the museum, a venue which has steadily increased its visitor numbers to nearly 600,000 a year pre-pandemic.
The exhibition features works by women artists from Glasgow Museums’ renowned collection and explores representations of landscape, geology and climate justice, by artists who have documented and recorded the natural environment.
It draws on rare work by botanist Anna Atkins from Glasgow Museums’ collection, which includes a rare set of her first publication Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions 1843 – 52, alongside recent acquisitions including work by Carol Rhodes and Sara Barker.
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Curator Katie Bruce said: "We had been just about ready to go with this exhibition before Christmas and then everything changed again. While we have been able to do some things online, there is just the joy of being able to sit in front of a work of art and take it in. That's why I felt the name of the exhibition was very appropriate as people can just drink in the beauty.
"We are in a period of time where social distancing makes it an even more enjoyable time to visit a gallery with a little more space and restricted numbers."
The exhibition also features artist film works borrowed from Jo Ganter and Jade Montserrat, and works by Ilana Halperin, Jacki Parry, Kate V Robertson and Amanda Thomson.
Artist Jo Ganter silhouetted in the doorway to her video installation 'Urgent Nature'. The film is accompanied by music by David Rothenberg. Photograph by Colin Mearns.
The title of the exhibition comes from a quote ‘Drink in the beauty and wonder at the meaning of what you see’, by the eminent conservationist and author Rachel Louise Carson. It is over 50 years since Carson wrote her ground-breaking work ‘Silent Spring’ on the catastrophic and wide ranging effects of the use of pesticides and this publication is often credited with advancing the global environmental movement.
The title underpins the theme of the show, which aims to inspire visitors to think about our connections to nature within the landscape around us and our responses to global injustices.
Councillor Baillie Annette Christie, speaking on behalf of Glasgow Life, said: “We are delighted to present ‘Drink in the Beauty’ at GoMA. The exhibition celebrates the work of nine innovative women artists in what is a female-focused and curated show, while opening up important conversations about the environment and climate change.
"At this time, more than ever, exhibitions like this highlight the importance art and culture play in people’s wellbeing and I’m sure visitors to GoMA will be delighted by this new display, which includes some artworks from Glasgow Museums’ collection that will be on show for the first time."
As the most visited modern and contemporary art museum in Scotland, GoMA has a unique position in Glasgow as a collecting institution of contemporary art.
Drink in the Beauty exhibition at GoMA. The first new exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) since the gallery re-opened in April and the first show to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary year. Pictured is artist Kate V Robertson with
Ms Bruce added there have been significant acquisitions and shows with exciting months ahead as well.
Since opening its doors 25 years ago, GoMA has staged over 200 exhibitions with diverse artists from all over the world, as well as collecting powerful work by local, UK and international artists and developing an award-winning learning programme.
Some of the earliest collecting activities included works by Jo Spence, Bruce Lacey, Bridget Riley and Niki de Saint Phalle that are now recognised as key acquisitions for Glasgow Museums.
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