Stephen Bird: Kiln Gods | August 2019 | The Scottish Gallery

STEPHEN BIRD KILN GODS

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THE

SCOTTISH

GALLERY

CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842

STEPHEN BIRD KILN GODS Festival Exhibition 24 July - 24 August 2019

16 Dundas Street Edinburgh EH3 6HZ +44 (0)131 558 1200 scottish-gallery.co.uk

Foreward

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Foreword

Kiln Gods is Stephen Bird’s fourth solo exhibition with The Scottish Gallery, a relationship which is now into its third decade. Each exhibition has introduced new narratives and his work has never been for the faint hearted; there is disquiet and beauty in equal measure. Bird might depict a seemingly pleasant pastoral aspect of Australia, executed in ‘Spode style’ but containing an element of the macabre - sometimes brutal or grotesque in detail, our expectations subverted by those of a traditionally genteel medium. This is how Bird works; his extraordinary, original vision is expressed with an iconography which is both personal and universal and in a medium which is at once enhanced and subverted.

There is a tension in the narrative, whether historical or personal – his observations are complex insights into the human condition past or present. As Bird says: ‘I use the relationships of surface, form, colour, line and mark making, (the mainstays of the painter’s vocabulary) to create narratives which explore transgressive themes such as cruelty, war, natural disasters, unnatural affections and violent deaths.’

The comfort and continuity we derive from the use of traditional media, be it Oriental or European, of the beautiful marks, shapes and palette Bird deploys, is subverted by his choice of narrative, albeit leavened by humour. There is of course a second tension between his chosen medium, so deeply associated with craft and utility, and the conceptual territory he occupies with his subject.

Stephen Bird’s reputation as an artist continues to gather momentum, his work has been acquired by museum collections worldwide, in part due to high profile exhibitions, residencies and competitions.

Many of the works in Kiln Gods were made during his residency at the Taoxichuan International Studio in Jingdezhen, China in 2017 and further works influenced by this experience and his more recent HUA HIN International Contemporary Art Residency, Thailand 2018. Included in the exhibition are several works which were presented when Stephen was an invited guest at the 9th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, Cerapia, South Korea in 2017.

Stephen has recently been nominated for the prestigious Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award 2019. We are grateful to Sandy Hope for his insightful essay on the following pages.

Christina Jansen

Stephen Bird in his studio, Sydney, 2019 photo: Lola Bird

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Kiln Gods The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Kiln Gods is an exhibition of singular and distinctive ceramic sculptures, vessels and low relief plates made by painter and ceramicist Stephen Bird, at his Sydney studio and also at the Taoxichuan International Studio, Jingdezhen, China.

Each morning as I walk into Craigie High school where I teach visual art, I step over the ceramic tiles installed on the entrance steps by Stephen in 2004 during a project he undertook with my students called Big Hand Little Hand. Now living in Australia, the continent of exiles, Stephen’s presence in Dundee is still keenly felt due to the accumulation of works in public spaces that he has left behind. The colossal, concrete Mr White sculpture in Whitfield, Dundee East and the vibrant tiled façade of the Agacan restaurant in the West End of the city are a reminder of people and places that were important in Stephen’s early career. From this viewpoint I am delighted to provide for the viewer a glimpse into both his early development as an artist and some insight into the works in this show.

His passion to learn and improve was demonstrated to his fellow students by his working hours. He was always first in to work and the last to leave. Along with his friend Neil Irons he spent lunch breaks drawing portraits of the other students.

It soon became clear that he was a very accomplished academic draughtsman; a fact made evident when he was awarded the Ian Eadie Award for Drawing in only his second year at college.

Stephen and I soon discovered we had common ground in that our fathers were former coal miners. I am sure they secretly hoped we would come to our senses and recant from the insane decision to embark on careers as artists. They may have given into an ‘oh what the hell’ attitude to the choice of their offspring’s outlandish career plans due to the labour market of the period. I remember a headline in a newspaper I read just before I applied to art college that informed me that it was easier to get a job in the faraway Western Isles than in the central belt of Scotland. The City of Dundee at this time was being steadily de-fanged of its industrial promise as the blunt measures of the Thatcherite understanding of the benefits of a market economy took a sledgehammer to the possibilities of the city’s future as a manufacturing town. As we began our studies, the mission seemed clear: we would have to set aside the dark prospects of the time and bring back the light.

I first met Stephen when we both studied Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee in the early 1980s.

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Adam and Eve Plate, 2018 (p45)

In 1984 it was impossible to imagine that in the future Dundee would become an emergent creative hub and the home of the new V&A Dundee. Back then, we just got on with the task of figuring out what kind of art you wanted to create and how to find your voice, subject and medium. Many of our graduating peers migrated towards the lure of London; Stephen on the other hand took off for the exotic Island of Cyprus to study at an art college near Paphos, followed by a stint at Fuentes Studios, near Malaga, Southern Spain. These years were funded by a very generous Elizabeth Greensheilds Memorial Award. Stephen returned to Dundee in 1990 when the money ran out. His resolve to stay in Dundee at that time meant that his artistic output was politicised by the era and the struggle he witnessed as our society changed and unemployment and poverty grew in our city.

I remember visiting Stephen’s studio in the Hilltown, shortly after his return from Spain.

The front door was painted cadmium scarlet and numerous whippets and hounds skulked after us as we moved from room to room looking at the prodigious number of art works he was working on at the time. Stephen also seemed to have befriended a troupe of wild and bizarre looking circus performers.

Stephen Bird in his studio during The 2018 HUA HIN International Contemporary Art Residency, Thailand photo: Sarah Benton

Stephen Bird in his studio, Sydney, 2018 photo: Charlotte Le Brocque

He was quick to point out that they were New Age traveller friends of his sister on their way to perform at Glastonbury festival.

When looking at his work at that moment it became apparent that economic circumstances were now the main driving force behind his development as I found him quite literally making art from rubbish. He had created a series of constructions made from cereal packets, toilet rolls, parcel tape and painted with oils (influenced no doubt by the Italian Arte Povera movement). A miniaturized world in low relief depicted views of Dundee from a high vantage point, with its chimneys, jute mills, factories and the Hilltown’s modernist 1950s high-rise dwellings. These constructions marked the beginning of Stephen’s interest in making three-dimensional work. The viewpoint established in them sowed the seed for a trait now inherent in his work: his ability to find a true and yet dreadful beauty in the world around him through observation, attitude and physiological scaling. I remember asking him at the time what he was doing. His reply has stayed in my memory ever since. ‘I’m learning how not to draw’. Today those words seem convincing proof that unlearning is as good as learning.

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The influences of the culture and people that were around for Stephen at this time have nicely percolated up through the bedrock in the work you see in this exhibition. The philosophy and works of the late Alan Davie have been an abiding inspiration for Stephen, sitting alongside his love of Outsider Art and the underground comics that emerged into the mainstream of the early 1980s. It was also at this time that Stephen established a deep and enduring friendship with fellow artist David Cook, and their mutual friend, self-taught painter Zeki Agacan. Stephen and David’s work explored similar forms during this period as they created not just paintings but their own constructed furniture and mini environments. The Agacan Restaurant became both a place to meet, eat and exhibit their works.

Man With An Eel (detail), 2019 (p38)

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These artistic influences and experiences began to give Stephen’s work a style and more importantly, a voice. The stylistic naiveté of Bird’s ceramics belie his technical prowess: his glazes, for instance, are rich and their application considered. The individuality of each work and the inalienable presence of the artist’s hand is also a conscious nod to what has been lost in the age of mass production and consumption.1 This can be evidenced in the giant porcelain pie type dishes, Large Fuck the World Plate (p20) and Large Two Guys Walking Plate (p48), which Stephen painted whilst on a cultural exchange at Taoxichuan Museum, Jingdezhen, China.

The additions of handmade porcelain components and the layering of a variety of glazing techniques begin to dissolve the very stiffly thrown forms and return them to an organic earthiness. The larger sculptures like Saturn Eating Another Man’s Leg (p11) and Painter (p46), a work which is obviously a self portrait, demonstrate a joyous subversion and reveal a taste for the transgressive. These and other works in the show deal with themes of transition. Moving away from home, travelling in distant lands, exploring new modes of living, gaining independence and the final struggles of attaining success and meaning in a new and foreign state. There are parallels between these works and the works made by Picasso in the rose period where portraits and landscapes featuring the outcast and the picaresque are an expression of new and profound independence. There is a ruthless honesty to what Stephen expresses in ceramic form that should be unfettered by needless philosophical and intellectual language and justification.

In Kiln Gods you will see the cast of characters, family, friends and mentors whose depiction allows Stephen to create the anti-monuments and mini memorials to personally important moments in his life.

These moments are sometimes emotional,

sometimes satiric, but are always presented in a way where the experiences the viewer perceives are the lived out truths of a very brutally honest person. The past few years have seen Stephen establish his reputation in Australia and South East Asia. This year he is nominated for the Sidney Meyer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the visual arts with a uniquely ceramic focus. This follows the exhibition; Bastard Son of Royal Doulton - a show conceived by Wollongong Gallery, touring to seven regional and city galleries on the east coast of Australia.

This show surveys the years 1992-2014 of Bird’s career as he transitioned from paint to clay and back again and travelled in the Asia Pacific Region seeking out new inspiration and experiences. Glen Barkley describes Stephen as one of three artists in Australia, along with Peter Cooley and Toni Warburton, who are ‘models for younger contemporary artists working with ceramics. They share an interest in low, primitive, folk and marginal art forms investigated with a flamboyant sense of style and grace. They also tread the line of knowing good technique but not being overwhelmed by it – to lean on it when you need, while at other times letting it go.

(You find this also in good musicianship – to be equal parts concert pianist and garage band)’. 2

Stephen Bird in his studio, Sydney, 2018 photo: Charlotte Le Brocque

Sandy Hope Sandy Hope, MPhil is an art teacher at Craigie High School, Dundee. He was recently seconded to the V&A Dundee as the first Schools Development Officer for the museum.

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Wearn, 2015, More Love Hours, Ian Potter Gallery, University of Melbourne, Australia Barkley, 2014, SO HOT RIGHT NOW, Ceramics and Contemporary Art, ARTAND Australia, issue 51.4

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Using visual metaphors, scale, random inclusions and simultaneous juxtapositions, I reinterpret old myths and appropriate iconography from established English pottery traditions; a stiff pastoral scene from Spode, a decorative Royal Doulton tile, or the cabbage leaf from a Wedgwood Whieldon teapot. I believe visual art is all about humanity’s relationship to objects and I wish above all to evoke the emotional connections which are felt towards things that have been made by hand with love. Stephen Bird, 2019

The House At Acacia Creek, 2014 glazed earthenware H31 x W30 x D20 cm

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Saturn Eating Another Man’s Leg (detail), 2017 glazed earthenware H66 x W33 x D25 cm

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Tartan Face Plate, 2019 tin glazed earthenware with enamel H31 x W24 cm

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Pink Tartan Head Eating Biscuit Plate, 2016 tin glazed earthenware with enamel and lustre H31 x W21 cm

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I use relationships of surface, form, colour, line and mark making, (the mainstays of the painter’s vocabulary) to create narratives which explore transgressive themes such as cruelty, war, natural disasters, unnatural affections and violent deaths.

Stephen Bird, 2019

Walking Man With Dog, 2017 glazed earthenware with enamel and lustre H42 x W32 x D20 cm

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Incident At Acacia Creek, 2014 glazed earthenware H32 x W30 x D20 cm

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Man With Pug, 2009 glazed earthenware H75 x W21 x D21 cm

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Large Fuck The World Plate, 2016 enamelled Jingdezhen porcelain Ă˜55 cm

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Pied Piper, 2018 glazed and enamelled stoneware H38 x W14 x D17 cm

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Exotic Vase, 2016 enamelled Jingdezhen porcelain H21 x W11 x D11 cm

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Head Vase, 2016 enamelled Jingdezhen porcelain H47 x W21 x D21 cm

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In many respects these plates exemplify the confusion of categories that now pervades creative industries: in production, process and materiality they belong to the domain of craft, while the subversive content keeps this category at arm’s length.

Suzette Wearn, Curator, Ian Potter Gallery, University of Melbourne

Stephen Bird in his studio, Sydney, 2017 photo: Charlotte le Brocque

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Man With Biscuit Plate, 2017 tin glazed earthenware with enamel H52 x W43 cm

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Face With Donut And Paint Brush Plate, 2015 tin glazed earthenware with enamel and lustre H41 x W29 cm

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Woman Under A Tree, 2016 kaolin clay with blue celadon glaze with enamel H19 x W20 x D13 cm Wee Man, 2016 kaolin clay with blue celadon glaze with enamel H17 x W15 x D12 cm

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Dance, Dance, Dance, 2016 enamelled Jingdezhen porcelain H43 x W19 x D19 cm

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I began making plates whilst at Angus College studying ceramics in 1998. After making sculpture and paintings for many years it was so liberating to be able to combine the two on a single surface.

These days I treat each plate like a page in my sketch pad. It’s a page on which to try out the most dubious of ideas.

Stephen Bird, 2019

Stephen Bird in his studio, Sydney, 2018 photo: Charlotte Le Brocque

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Off To Shop Plate, Staffordshire Style, 2017 glazed earthenware with enamel Ă˜37 cm Gold Member Plate, 2018 glazed earthenware with enamel Ă˜40 cm

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Man Plate, 2016 tin glazed earthenware with enamel H43 x W30 cm

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Face Plate, 2019 glazed earthenware with orange lustre H31 x W24 cm

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Arbitrary Tree, 2015 glazed earthenware H59 x W30 x D30 cm

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Man With Hat Plate, 2017 tin glazed earthenware with enamel H44 x W37 cm

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Woman Vase, 2016 glazed earthenware with enamel and lustre H37 x W14 x D14 cm

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Man With An Eel (detail), 2019 glazed earthenware with enamel H52 x W25 x D22 cm

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I want the narrative in my work to be multi headed and full of free associations. I am a great fan of the philosophy of Alan Davie and his fight against the straight jacket that art education has become.

I want my works to provoke and not explore some notion which is impossible for a visual language. I think that travel and my immersion in other cultures has helped me define the terms and parameters of my imagined world and enabled me to project that vision onto whatever surface I am working on.

Stephen Bird, 2019

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Woman Painting Her Toenails, 2017 glazed earthenware H42 x W24 x D20 cm

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Relief Plate With Man, 2018 earthenware with honey glaze H30 x W23 cm

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Adam and Eve Plate, 2019 glazed earthenware H42 x W51 cm

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Daphne Shot By Eros Plate, 2018 glazed earthenware Ø31 cm Hunter Plate, 2019 glazed earthenware Ø30 cm

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Titian Plate, 2018 tin glazed earthenware Ă˜38 cm Adam and Eve Plate, 2018 tin glazed earthenware Ă˜32 cm

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Painter, 2017 glazed earthenware H72 x W25 x D16 cm

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As I have grown older my mirror image has become so inadequate at expressing my identity, so I keep exploring other ways to create my portrait. More vanitas and less vanity I hope. Stephen Bird, 2019

Tea Caddy, 2017 glazed and enamelled earthenware H20 x W17 x D17 cm

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Large Two Guys Walking Plate, 2016 Jingdezhen porcelain Ă˜54 cm

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Where Am I Going Plate, 2016 glazed earthenware H52 x W43 cm

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Woman With A Banana, 2017 glazed earthenware H40 x W20 x D20.5 cm

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Stephen Bird 1964

Born Stoke on Trent, UK Lives and works in Sydney, Australia and Dundee, Scotland

EDUCATION 1987 1988 1998

B.A. (Hons) Fine Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, Scotland Post Graduate, Cyprus College of Art, Lemba, Paphos, Cyprus Higher National Certificate, Ceramics, Angus College of Further Education, Scotland

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2019 2018 2017 2016

2015

2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

2009

2008

2007

2006 2005 2004

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Kiln Gods, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Where The Sour Turns To Sweet, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Australia Rogue Heroes, Gould Gallery, Melbourne, Australia Transported, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Heiser Gallery, Brisbane, Australia Bastard Son Of Royal Doulton, Wollongong Art Gallery, touring exhibition, Tweed Powerhouse Arts Centre, Grafton Regional Gallery, Cowra Regional Art Gallery and Hamilton Regional Gallery, Victoria, Australia A Melting Moment, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney, Australia Once Upon a Time in New England, Gould Gallery, Melbourne, Australia My Dad Was Born On The Moon, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Where The Wild Roses Grow, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney, Australia Staffordshire Psycho, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, Australia War On Pottery, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney, Australia Irony Makes a Country Strong, Gould Gallery, Melbourne, Australia Industrial Sabotage Phase-3, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney, Australia Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool, England Industrial Sabotage, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney, Australia The View From Here, Paintings From Australia, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Compass Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland Figure This, The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent, England The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney, Australia England & Co, London, England One Five Two Gallery, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland

2003

2001 2000 1998 1994 1994 1989

A Journey To Australia Through India, S.E. Asia, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland England & Co, London (concurrent show with David Larwill) Compass Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland England & Co, London, England Works On Paper, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, England Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Psychology Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland Tower Gallery, Dundee University, Scotland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019

2018

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney, Australia Korea-Australian Art Foundation Art Prize, Korean Cultural Centre, Sydney, Australia Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria, Australia Dimensions Variable, National Art School, Sydney, Australia The Vincent Art Prize, Duck Rabbit Gallery, Redfern, Sydney, Australia HUA HIN International Contemporary Art, River City, Bangkok, Thailand The Adelaide Perry Prize For Drawing, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Croydon, Australia The Strip Show, University of The Sunshine Coast Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia From The Sublime To The Concrete, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland CERAMICS NOW, Adelaide Perry Gallery, Croydon, Australia

PROFESSIONAL & RESIDENCIES 2018 2017

2016 2015 2014

2012

2011 2010

HUA HIN International Contemporary Art Residency, Thailand Speaker at Symposium, Narative_Rewriting Ceramic Histories, The 9th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, Cerapia, South Korea Artist in residence, Taoxichuan International Studio, Jingdezhen, China Gimhae Clayarch Museum, Beyond Limitations, ceramic mentorship programme, South Korea Emotional Intelligence, The Art of Charlotte Le Brocque, by Stephen Bird, article published in The Journal of Australian Ceramics, Volume 53/2 July Art is a Joke! lecture given at The Ceramic Study Group, Sydney, Australia Speaker at Australian Ceramic Tiannale, Subversive Clay, Adelaide, Australia Ink Earth, article published in The Journal of Australian Ceramics, Volume 51/3 Nov External examiner for MFA candidate, Sydney College of the Arts, Australia Sydney College of the Arts External examiner for MFA candidate, Australia Lecturer 0.5, National Art School, Sydney (ongoing), Australia

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2009

2008 2007 2004

1998 1989

Artist in residence, University of South Australia, Adelaide Artist in residence, Hill End, support from Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Australia Part time lecturer, Sydney College of the Arts, Australia Speaker at Australian Ceramic Triannale, Sydney, Australia Artist in residence, Cicada Press, College of Fine Art, Sydney, Australia Part time lecturer, National Art School, Sydney, Australia Elected member of Contemporary Applied Arts, London, England Artist in residence, Hazelwood School Artist in residence, Craigie High School, Dundee, Big Hand Little Hand project Artist in residence, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, England Artist in residence, Fuente Studios, Competa, Malaga, Spain

SELECTED AWARDS 2019 2017 2016

2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

2006

2005 2004

2000 1997 1987 1986 1985 1984

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The Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award 2019, nominated The Manning Art Prize, Manning Regional Art Gallery, highly commended The Gold Coast International Ceramic Award The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, special commendation, second prize The Sunshine Coast Art Prize, commended Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, highly commended New Work Grant, established artist, Australia Council for the Arts Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award New Work Grant, established artist, Australia Council for the Arts Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, special commendation, second prize Dundee Visual Arts Award Aberdeen Artists Design Award Shell Expo Award, Aberdeen Engage Scotland Visual Arts Education Award Professional Development Award, Scottish Arts Council Lottery Grant Creative Development Award, Scottish Arts Council Dundee Visual Arts Award Mott McDonald Painting Prize, Aberdeen Artists Society, travelled to New York Elizabeth Greensheilds Memorial Award Duncan of Drunfaulk Travel Award, Italy Ian Eadie Award for Drawing, travelled to Holland and Belgium Mitchell Painting Prize, travelled to Barcelona, Spain

COMMISSIONS 2007

2004

1999

1998

McManus Redevelopment Project for Dundee Museum and Art Gallery involving educational elements exploring the processes and materials of ceramics.

Creative Links Commission exploring the pieces within the context of disability and creating two new works for Woodlands and Hazelwood schools. Funded by Scottish Arts Big Hand Little Hand. Contemporary craft makers school residency project.

Collaboration between Dundee Contemporary Arts & Dundee Education.

Large scale ceramic mural at Charles Square on Old St, London. Commissioned by Hackney Borough Council with artist Neil Irons. A collaboration with the local community.

The completed work was a 3 x 25 m exterior on glaze ceramic mural.

Major site specific sculpture at Whitfield, Dundee. Commissioned by Dundee District Council. A community based project to design and make a sculpture to commemorate the rejuvenation of the shopping centre and library. The completed sculpture was 2m high made from cast concrete with ceramic inlays.

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland National Museums Northern Ireland, Ulster, Northern Ireland Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Powerhouse Museum: Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, Australia Artbank Sydney, Australia Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, Aberdeen, Scotland Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Renfrewshire, Scotland The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum, Dundee, Scotland Dundee District Council, Scotland Hackney Borough Council, England Mexican Consulate, Blairgowrie, Scotland Manly Art Gallery and Museum, New South Wales, Australia Arizona State University Art Museum, USA The Grainer Collection, Washington, D.C, USA The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia Wollongong Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia Gimhae Clayarch Museum, Gimhae, South Korea

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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition Stephen Bird - Kiln Gods 24 July - 24 August 2019 Exhibition can be viewed online at: scottish-gallery.co.uk/kilngods ISBN: 978-1-912900-03-9 Stephen Bird would like to thank Sandy Hope for his essay and The National Art School for professional practice leave allowing him to travel to attend the opening of Kiln Gods.

Designed and produced by The Scottish Gallery Printed by J Thomson Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

THE

SCOTTISH

GALLERY

CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842 16 DUNDAS STREET • EDINBURGH EH3 6HZ +44 (0) 131 558 1200 • scottish-gallery.co.uk

front and back cover: Stephen Bird in his studio, Sydney, 2017, photo: Charlotte le Brocque inside front cover: Arbitrary Tree, 2015, glazed earthenware, H59 x W30 x D30 cm (p35) inside back cover: Man Plate, 2016, tin glazed earthenware with enamel, H43 x W30 cm (p33)

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SCOTTISH

GALLERY

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CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842