Spin Events
Paul Carter and Chad McCail
Life is driven by the desire for pleasure, 2003 by Chad McCail (c) Courtesy of the Fruitmarket Gallery. Photo: Alan Dimmick
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
27 November 2003
To mark the culmination of the gallery’s acclaimed four-year series VISIONS FOR THE FUTURE with the presentation of work by Edinburgh-based artists Paul Carter and Chad McCail, we will be hearing from Gallery exhibitions manager George Gilliland. He will present an overview of the new commissions series and its publications and then give us a tour of Carter and McCail’s installations.
Both artists are held in great affection by Edinburgh audiences who have enjoyed watching their work develop since their initial impact on the scene a few years ago. Although their approaches are highly individual and distinct, they both have a gift for the uncanny. They recast familiar things in a strange light – their imaginary worlds are spooky and wondrous at the same time.
Chad McCail’s exhibition, Life is driven by the desire for pleasure, features intricate large-format cartoon diagrams, revealing the pleasure-seeking principle underlying cycles of life, work and relationships. Paul Carter’s Edge of Darkness adopts the language of old-fashioned museum display. His dioramas of objects and artefacts illustrate forgotten or illusory geographical conquests in a re-imagined uncharted Scotland. Carter’s imagery of the intrepid ‘solo’ expedition holds human populations at a distance, in contrast to McCail’s collective image of humanity, which draws all things into the social network.