The Company I Keep - Esther
Sometimes… I need the
company of art.
So said my
pre-teen (& beyond) hero Adam Ant. Like many of Adam’s utterances in
interview & song, the concept was beyond my understanding back then. It
took me a long time & a specific context to understand this one at all. I
didn’t think about the lyric very much until the last few years, when I was
forced to part with the company of art in my hometown.
Aberdeen,
Scotland is grubby magnificence. The majority of buildings with any age to them
are made of granite. People from other towns, unable to deal with all those
shades of grey, often think it “dull.” But it’s solid. Stoic. Once pneumatic
tools were developed, it turned out there was a lot you could do with a lump of
rock, no matter how hard it was. The result is a city full of staggering detail:
domes, spires, pillars, statues & fancy gable ends.
Not least within
this grandeur rests our Art Gallery (founded in 1884), a peculiar specimen in
pink granite. It is attached to Aberdeen City War Memorial, a pillared granite
scoop cradling my most-adored statue, a lion, proud & scowling & an
almost miraculous piece of work.
My beloved lion
There is more
grandeur within the Gallery itself, albeit on a more sedate scale: a central hall
(once a sculpture court) has more granite, more pillars, a Wonderland
checkerboard floor & a surrounding mezzanine. It was always an odd space, a
place to wander & discover & be inspired. We have some Stanley
Spencers, a particularly creepy Ken Currie, Alison Watt, Paul Nash &
Francis Bacon. We have a fine collection of Scottish Colourists &
Post-Impressionists as well as the mostly-tedious Applied Arts & Crafts.
Pink Kemnay granite exterior
The layout was
haphazard, perhaps identifiable as “Old Stuff” & “Newer Stuff,” with an
often-unmemorable “Temporary Exhibition.” The last Memorable Temporary
Exhibition was in 2014 by knitting designer Kaffe Fassett, a show I attended many
times & a fantasy in yarn. The only drawback of the Kaffe Fassett show was
it took place in what passes for high summer in NE Scotland. Viewers therefore
found themselves on the point of collapse from heat stroke since they were surrounded
by walls & floors festooned with knitwear.
Then suddenly there
was no opportunity for another Memorable Temporary Exhibition. Our Art Gallery
closed in 2015. The company of art was withdrawn.
View from the Gallery
I viewed the
planned major renovations with a deep suspicion. I was unhappy to hear about
the removal of the marble staircase & fountain & was appalled by what
looked from street level like a shipping container dumped permanently on top of
the building. The renovations would modernise the Gallery, they said. More work
would be displayed, they said. It would be “better,” they said. Well I wasn’t
taking their word for it. Whenever I passed the building in its scaffolding
prison I would curse, literally shake my fist & warn the local councillors
of the dire consequences to befall them should they ruin it. Of course the rage
merely masked the feeling of loss of one of my most beloved places & the
best of company.
The (extended)
deadline for opening approached. I was nervous.
***
As I advance
there’s a fluttering in my stomach. My mind goes blank trying to recall what it
was like before. The outside accessibility is better, a wider, longer ramp
dominating the entrance. I push my way through the glass doors. A stylish logo
is scratched onto the glass. The Gallery barely had a brand before but the logo
works. Unsuccessfully blinking back tears on entering the familiar central
court, I look up to the new skylight at the light pouring in. I find myself
almost tiptoeing round the ground floor rooms (those pesky Applied Arts again)
before heading up the first new & enormous staircase.
Three floors, one photo
The works we
didn’t know we had & paintings that had been tucked away or badly hung in
the past are finally displayed to properly appreciate them. Gwen John, Bridget
Riley, Muirhead Bone. Staggering treasures that have led us to the time &
place we are now.
But the real
surprise is that shipping container on the top. A second floor has been added
& the shipping container is in fact made in part of slatted windows
providing us with cityscapes never before seen. Outdoor viewing balconies afford
us new sights & perspectives of our city. I look down at the pavement where
I used to shake my fist & rant. I smile. Not only is there still free
admission, they haven’t ruined it after all.
"Shipping container" windows
Across the world,
our relationship with the objects we love in public spaces & the places
that house them is a wonder in itself…we acknowledge their creation, the owning,
the past loving, the holding by hands before ours, the feet that trod
here. These objects, like old friends drifting in & out of our lives,
perhaps meaning something different from one visit to the next, become more
special, more cherished as time goes on.
As we walk along
the walls we are seen by a thousand painted eyes looking out from their gilt
frames, eyes that meet our gaze & hold it.
& they
welcome us back into their company, as if they expected our presence sooner.
They look down on us & follow our path, knowing we’ll meet again.
The Gallery dome & in the distance domes of the Library & Theatre from the viewing platform
Beautiful writing. It's obvious that the gallery is a place of great importance to you. I'm so glad you were happy with the renovation. I relate to this, having lived in St. Louis with it's amazing free art museum. I had several rooms I liked to visit, the antiquities rooms, where they displayed an Egyptian mummy's case, and a renaissance staircase that was arranged against a wall, the Audrey Flack, Glass buddha, and a painting called The Redhead, I don't recall by whom. I never got quite the same attachment to the art museum in Columbus, but I regularly go to The Dali, in St. Petersburg, FL, about 2 hours north of me. https://travel.usnews.com/St_Petersburg_FL/Things_To_Do/Dali_Museum_63153/
ReplyDeleteOh it sounds brilliant...& I do love a bit of Sal :-)
DeleteNicely done!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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