Featuring over 80 works by 13 artists from across the globe, the City Art Centre’s POP LIFE exhibition immerses viewers in the dynamic relationship between art and popular culture in playful and provocative ways. After being exhibited in Sweden and the Netherlands, the exhibition has arrived in Edinburgh, now further enriched by the inclusion of Scottish artists.
POP LIFE confronts the limiting definitions of “high” art and “low” culture, celebrating artists who draw on elements of everyday life and focus on human form in visually engaging and provocative forms. Co-curator Euan Gray describes that the exhibition showcases artists who “champion the enduring appeal of traditional drawing, [and] wholeheartedly embrace the language of pop culture.”
A highlight of the exhibition is co-curator Witte Wartena’s series Can You See Me? His drawings, taking the form of online video call screenshots, combine still-life and portraiture in a digitally mediated form, adapting the “straight from life” approach in transformative and radical ways. Neither a critique nor an endorsement, his collection provides a nuanced social commentary on the changing nature of human relationships, connection and communication in our increasingly virtual world. Laura Bruce too plays with technology, by offering a unique fusion of sight and sound. Her graphite portraits of country music legends, such as Dolly Parton, are brought to life by the addition of headphones – as the viewer listens to the original recording of ‘Jolene,’ Parton’s smile seems to become ignited and energetic.
The exhibition, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression and traditional conventions, is diverse in expression and themes. Whilst David Shrigley brings something of a child-like joy to the exhibition through his use of bright colours and quirky imagery, Jamie Fitzpatrick confronts power and authority in his bold paintings which offer a new take on the act of defacing public statues. Meanwhile Notes to Self, a collection of 20 works by Paul McDevitt, who fuses doodles, collages and text, takes a more personal approach, giving viewers intimate access into his artistic mind and creative thought. Whereas Marc Brandenburg’s work invokes a reflective process, engaging the viewer in a deeper dialogue about visibility, identity and experience. His drawings of the Tiergarten in Berlin, a park known as a popular meeting place for gay men, emphasise that “human interaction is implied by our knowledge of the location” rather than through what is directly observed.
In some ways the variety of subjects and themes could make for a disunity in the experience, but the exhibition remarkably weaves together these disparities in a way which speaks to identity, culture and the shifting nature of human connection in a digital world. It connects what appears disconnected – and powerfully the cohesive glue that sticks these fragments together is revealed to be art itself.
POP LIFE at the City Art Centre on until Sun 9 Mar 2025
“City Art Centre Edinburgh” by Macfack is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.