RMJM Art Commissioning
Art and Architecture
Ruth Barker: The Shores of The Familiar Exhibition
The Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
December 07
The Shores of the Familiar Exhibition at CCA: Glasgow on 13th December 07, was the venue to celebrate the launch of a newly commissioned permanent artwork for the pedestrian underpass linking the city centre, at Cambridge Lane / Cowcaddens Underground Station with the Glasgow Canal...
“About Ruth Barker
Thinking about art as an investigative act is a way of thinking about how we might come to terms with the imagining of the world. The history of art becomes a history of these acts of investigation, which we can both build on and critique in order to refine.
The making of marks and objects can be seen as the moment of lending form to darkness and her own practice, partly formally and partly autobiographical, uses this as a way to approach images of Death and Nothingness. Her work often contains a tension between that which can and that which cannot be controlled. The world leaves a series of stains and thumbprints on an idea.
Her studio routine is to work on a series of related pieces simultaneiously. She works intuitively and labour-intensively, producing a large volume of objects and drawings that are then edited and contextualised.”
Sam Ainsley
Artist, co-founder and ex Head of the Master of Fine Art Couse at The Glasgow School of Art
Art and Architecture
Ruth Barker: The Shores of The Familiar Exhibition
The Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
December 07
The Shores of the Familiar Exhibition at CCA: Glasgow on 13th December 07, was the venue to celebrate the launch of a newly commissioned permanent artwork for the pedestrian underpass linking the city centre, at Cambridge Lane / Cowcaddens Underground Station with the Glasgow Canal Network.
The Shores of the Familiar by artist Ruth Barker, was commissioned by the Glasgow Canal Regeneration Partnership - a joint venture between ISIS and Glasgow City Council, supported by British Waterways Scotland. The artwork features 15 drawings by the artist, which have been screenprinted onto white vitreous enamel on the walls of the underpass.
The original pen and ink drawings by the artist on display at CCA:1 celebrates the possibility of urban wildlife presenting us with the fantastic and the incredible. Our familiar environment still has the ability to surprise and mystify us, if only we care to look.
This commission, manged by RMJM Art Commissioning as part of a high profile regeneration project and in a busy city centre location, cements Glasgow's reputation as a city of high artistic ambition, innovation and success.
The launch included the following speakers:
- David Lamond, General Manager, British Waterways Scotland
- Bailie Matheson, Glasgow City Councillor
- David Harding, OBE, Artist
- Steve Inch, Executive Director, Development & Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council
*A commissioned essay by Sam Ainsley (which can be downloaded) accompanied the launch.
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