FOOLS GOLD
An Exhibition by Janie Nicoll, at The Briggait Project Spaces, Glasgow, Scotland UK.
An Exhibition by Janie Nicoll, at The Briggait Project Spaces, Glasgow, Scotland UK.
Glasgow based visualartist Janie Nicoll, transforms the Briggait with an exhibition spanning thetwo glass box project spaces at the front of the prestigious multi-awardwinning building that was formerly the fish-market for Glasgow.
Nicoll creates new eyecatching installation artworks that re-examine imagery and text thrown up bythe process of dredging through her own musical heritage.
The text “We're theflowers in the dustbin” is taken from the song “God Save The Queen” by seminalPunk band The Sex Pistols, a song whose notoriety caused the band to becatapulted to fame in the summer of 1976. Reworked in papier maché this text ismade using contemporary newspapers, many of whose pages contain images of civilunrest, echoing the malcontent of the earlier era.
“I’m watching you sinking”uses a line from the song “Fools Gold” by the Manchester band The Stone Roses,another seminal song that heralded the emergence of the rave scene in 1989. Thetitle of the exhibition literally resonates through each piece of work, echoingprevious artworks such as “We Are All Prostitutes”, a work underpinned by theFaustian notion that we have all sold our souls to the devil in one way oranother and “Fake Gold Ring”, where there is a concern with the appropriationof value and the use of imitation.
Nicoll explores imageryassociated with different musical genres, reworking “The Torch” and Fred Perrylaurel leaf, synonymous with Northern Soul patches and badges, iconographyusually associated with a fierce loyalty, here are rendered in imitation goldleaf or “Liquid leaf” gold paint, depersonalised and isolated as singular moreambiguous images. Nicoll has previously recreated these familiar images asbanner works, using ‘Handle with Care Tape’ hinting at an impotence that againresonates in the current works.
Nicoll’s work employs a punk aesthetic and an angry, aggressive yetpainterly approach to transform the dual spaces playing with imagery associatedwith various sub-cultural movements such as Northern Soul, Ska and Punk, in acontinuation of her exploration of themes to do with the notions ofmasculinity, fraternity and rebellion. Inevitably these works obliquelyreference the socio-economic situation and the feelings of alienation thatresult.
Nicoll creates new eyecatching installation artworks that re-examine imagery and text thrown up bythe process of dredging through her own musical heritage.
The text “We're theflowers in the dustbin” is taken from the song “God Save The Queen” by seminalPunk band The Sex Pistols, a song whose notoriety caused the band to becatapulted to fame in the summer of 1976. Reworked in papier maché this text ismade using contemporary newspapers, many of whose pages contain images of civilunrest, echoing the malcontent of the earlier era.
“I’m watching you sinking”uses a line from the song “Fools Gold” by the Manchester band The Stone Roses,another seminal song that heralded the emergence of the rave scene in 1989. Thetitle of the exhibition literally resonates through each piece of work, echoingprevious artworks such as “We Are All Prostitutes”, a work underpinned by theFaustian notion that we have all sold our souls to the devil in one way oranother and “Fake Gold Ring”, where there is a concern with the appropriationof value and the use of imitation.
Nicoll explores imageryassociated with different musical genres, reworking “The Torch” and Fred Perrylaurel leaf, synonymous with Northern Soul patches and badges, iconographyusually associated with a fierce loyalty, here are rendered in imitation goldleaf or “Liquid leaf” gold paint, depersonalised and isolated as singular moreambiguous images. Nicoll has previously recreated these familiar images asbanner works, using ‘Handle with Care Tape’ hinting at an impotence that againresonates in the current works.
Nicoll’s work employs a punk aesthetic and an angry, aggressive yetpainterly approach to transform the dual spaces playing with imagery associatedwith various sub-cultural movements such as Northern Soul, Ska and Punk, in acontinuation of her exploration of themes to do with the notions ofmasculinity, fraternity and rebellion. Inevitably these works obliquelyreference the socio-economic situation and the feelings of alienation thatresult.
