Glaswegian artist Bruce McLean is regarded as a vital character of the contemporary art scene. Through sculpture, ceramics, photography, film, performance and painting, McLean criticises the institutionalised aspects of the art world. The Modern One Gallery’s retrospective exhibition I Want My Crown celebrates McLean’s 80th birthday by assembling a collection of the artist’s most genre-defying works.
After studying at the Glasgow School of Art from 1961-63, followed by St Martin’s School of Art from 1963-66, McLean gained notoriety for deriding the very same academic establishments he had just graduated. His need to rally against the hierarchy of art existing within an academic setting led McLean to create several subversive performance works, mocking ingrained ideas of what sculpture should be.
I Want My Crown is presented in three acts, across two rooms. Act One: A Rebellious Spirit highlights McLean’s playful, satirical methods. In Pose Work for Plinths (1971), black and white photographs capture the live performance of the work. In 15 different positions atop 3 white plinths, McLean uses his own body as art, parodying the pretentious treatment of sculpture and denouncing conventional technique.
In Act Two: Staging an Exit from the Art World, the story of McLean’s 1972 solo exhibition at the Tate in London takes centre stage. Retrospective: King for a Day and 999 other pieces, works, things, etc was an ambitious one-day show comprising 1,000 catalogue copies that detailed 1,000 potential artworks. Members of the public could purchase a catalogue, and his display would slowly fade into obscurity, fragmented within visitors’ homes. Using formal academic language, McLean ridicules the art world’s constant need to categorise and define art by creating a disappearing exhibition.
Act Three: The Studio Revisited displays Constructed Painting (2024), an enigmatic jumble of paintings displayed in a sculptural fashion, replicating the artist’s studio. Each work contains reproductions of the other paintings, and references some of the most revered artists that McLean’s generation grew up with, such as Giacometti and Moore. The arrangement of this work is altered throughout the exhibition’s duration, giving the impression of a casual practice, yet it speaks to McLean’s drive for informality and his attempts at dismantling authoritarian structure.
This exhibition seamlessly takes the audience on a rebellious journey, allowing them a brief glimpse into McLean’s long-standing sentiments toward the art world. In his own words, Bruce McLean wants his crown, and he certainly deserves it.
“49.1 Room for Manoeuvre, Bruce McLean” by Gov.im is licensed under CC BY 2.0.