Salem

14 June 2008 — 27 July 2008

As re-contextualised through the exhibition, their practices represent a new paragraph in the story of a contemporary British art scene where strength of diversity is explored through shared attitude and black humour. A step away from the casual, their work is at times awkward, threatening and seductive. Salem will inhabit the gallery with a subversive flourish, and a drunken nightmare of anthropology.

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In Ruth Barker’s practice, the making of marks, objects, and speech can be seen as moments that lend form to darkness. Her work is partly formal and partly autobiographical, and uses this as a way to approach images of death and nothingness. The work often contains a tension between that which can and that which cannot be controlled, as the world leaves a series of stains and thumbprints on an idea.

Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir produces wall installations and fastidiously worked drawings. The clarity of Sigurdardottir’s images contrast sharply with the enigmatic nature of her creature’s interactions as they devour, assimilate or annihilate one another in sometimes sexual, sometimes cannibalistic meetings. Through her distinctively brutal aesthetic, the work resounds with a discordant song of abhorrent energy in a distinctive Icelandic key.

Erica Eyres is interested in the human condition and through her drawings and videos examines human nature, how we perceive others and how we portray ourselves to others. The awkward figures created by Eyres are documented in drawings – the line of which emulating the subject matter – or are bought to life by the artist in film. Often the characters lives are exposed as disturbingly troubled, and the viewer is confronted with figures who deserve both our pity and distaste.

Niall Macdonald’s recent work reflects a degree of abstraction where the formal qualities of each sculpture and image suggest the brink of some greater, darker metaphorical scenario. His appropriation of objects and ideas is less a system of reference than a deliberate production process that leaves the work with an elegiac sense of ritualism and uncertain utility.

More on the artists:

Ruth Barker

is a Glasgow based artist and writer, exhibiting in Europe and the UK as well as Japan, Canada, Iceland and Israel. Ruth has also produced a number of permanent public artworks and commissions, focusing on an exploration of ‘the memorial’ in contemporary public space. As a writer and public art advocate, Ruth has contributed to a wide range of publications and symposia including Itch magazine (Capetown), and Towards A New Co-Efficient (CCA). She recently participated in the Working in Public Seminar Series, curated by On The Edge Research with Suzanne Lacy, and chaired the symposium ‘Public Thoughts and Private Spaces, Private Acts and Public Places’ in the CCA, Glasgow. Ruth is the editor of the Public Art Resource and Research Scotland (PAR+RS) website, a co-director of Washington Garcia Gallery, Glasgow, and a board member of Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir (b. 1977, Reykjavik, Iceland) has lived and worked in Glasgow since 2002. Bjorg Sigurdardottir has had solo shows at Washington Garcia Gallery, Glasgow; Kunstverein Uelzen, Germany; Galerie Adler, New York and Frankfurt am Main; Centre d´Art et de diffusion Clark, Montreal, Canada; BOX Gallery, Akureyri, Iceland; Dwarf Gallery, Reykjavik. Bjorg Sigurdardottir has also shown in numerous group shows at Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh; Project Space 176, London; DCA Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland; CCA Glasgow; The Open Eye Club, Glasgow; Stadtgalerie Schwaz, Austria; Galleri Specta, Copenhagen; Parrotta Contemporary Art, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany; Von der Heyd Museum, Wuppertal/Kunsthalle Barmen, Germany; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; The Brick Factory, Stockholm; Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland; Arnesinga Art museum, Hveragerdi, Iceland and The living art museum, Reykjavik and Curator’s Office, Washington, USA; amongst many others. Her work is represented in collections including Reykjavík Art Museum; IS
Vicky Hughes and John Smith, London; Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Essen, Germany; Zabludowicz Art Trust and Kunsthaus Zürich. Bjorg Sigurdardottir completed the MFA at Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland.

Erica Eyres (b. 1980 Winnipeg, Canada). has had solo shows at Haas/Fisher, Zurich; Rokeby, London; Mary Mary, Glasgow; Glasgow Project Room; Kunsthaus Erfurt, Germany; Fette’s Gallery, Los Angeles; Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; G+ Galleries, Toronto and Dwarf Gallery, Reykjavik. Eyres has also show in numerous groups shows including Cooper Gallery, Dundee, Scotland; newcontemporaries 2005, touring, Cornerhouse, Manchester, LOT & Spike Island, Bristol, Barbican, London; Glasgow International; Bloc, County Hall, London; Museum for Contemporary Art, Thessalonica, Greece; China and Split Film Festival, Split, Croatia; Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland; Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland; Geisai Art Fair, Miami; Jack Hanley, San Francisco; 798 Space, Beijing; Triple Base, San Francisco; Fette’s Gallery, Los Angeles; SAW, Ottawa and The Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou and touring Beijing and Xi’an. Erica Eyres completed the MFA at Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow. Erica Eyres is represented by Rokeby, London.

Niall Macdonald was born in 1980 in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. He lives and works in Glasgow.

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Castlefield Gallery is supported by Arts Council England with Lottery funding.

Exhibition funders and supporters