Contemporary art on show in Glasgow
Glasgow's artists are celebrated internationally, winning the most prestigious awards and selling to the most famous collectors. Thanks to the city's galleries, you don't have to be a wealthy philanthropist to enjoy them first-hand.Gallery of Modern Art
Based in what was once the townhouse of tobacco trader William Cunninghame of Lainshaw, the Gallery of Modern Art counteracts the impression created by its imposing 18th century, neo-classical façade by going out of its way to be accessible to the man - or woman - on the street.
Everything in this city-centre gallery comes with clear descriptions that explain the work in terms even the most casual gallery-goer can understand. It's a policy that has encouraged GoMA's status as the second most visited contemporary art gallery outside London.
Showcasing the City of Glasgow's impressive collection of contemporary art, the gallery features artists cutting a dash on the international scene, many of them from Glasgow itself. Names to look out for include Peter Howson, Ross Sinclair, Ian Hamilton Finlay, John Byrne, Christine Borland, Adrian Wiszniewski, Kenny Hunter and Ken Currie.
The high-ceilinged ground floor is used for changing exhibitions of painting and sculpture taken either from the city's collection or from outside. Every two years there are specially curated exhibitions in which artists address the political issues of the day. Take the stairs or lift to the higher galleries and you'll discover displays of recently acquired artworks and smaller visiting exhibitions of video art.
Making links with the wider community, the attractively curved walls of the small balcony galleries show off the work of local children and adult groups. This work is produced by the education department which uses the top-floor studio for workshops and talks. The basement library, meanwhile, goes further to put modern art in context.
CCA
Known in the 70s and 80s as the Third Eye Centre, the CCA is the longstanding Sauchiehall Street home of cutting-edge creativity. Here you'll find experimental film, video, sound and contemporary music, as well as the more traditional disciplines of painting, photography and sculpture.
The Grade A listed building, designed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, re-opened in 2001 after a £10.5 million refurbishment. It sprang back to life as a chic and airy gallery with five spacious exhibition and performance rooms surrounding a high-ceilinged restaurant and bar – a popular meeting place ever since.
It's here the annual Beck's Futures exhibition has made its Glasgow home, as have students from the neighbouring Glasgow School of Art and all manner of conceptual and performance artists. Established names to have exhibited include Glasgow favourites Ross Sinclair, Toby Paterson and Kenny Hunter.
The small cinema specialises in films you won't see at your local multiplex. The programme typically embraces short films by women directors, seasons by acclaimed European masters and the work of independent documentary makers.
Believing that the avant-garde needn't be exclusive, the Centre for Contemporary Arts, to give it its full title, aims to be as welcoming as possible. Children can get creative with regular Saturday morning Kids Club workshops based on the local, national and international artists who are exhibiting at the time. Their parents might pick up something unusual in the monthly book fair, while those in more of a party frame of mind will appreciate the weekend DJs pumping up the volume in the bar. Cca-glasgow.com
Tramway
By the end of the 1980s, this southside venue was a neglected corner of the Glasgow landscape, long since redundant as a tram shed and no longer needed as the Museum of Transport which moved out in 1986. But all changed when the famous theatre director Peter Brook saw the building's potential and used it to stage his epic production of The Mahabharata in 1988. The city woke up to the possibilities offered by this expansive industrial space and, with Glasgow's Year of Culture around the corner, the Tramway was born.
For artist and art lover alike what Tramway offers more than any other gallery in the city is a monumental sense of scale. Its airy brick-lined spaces open great opportunities to the artist bold enough to exploit them. And even after the refurbishment of 2000, the building has an energising rough-and-ready industrial atmosphere, perfectly suited to the programme of innovative artists from Scotland and beyond.
Although Andy Goldsworthy, David Mach and Douglas Gordon were among the first to exhibit here, it's not all about the large scale. The building is extensive enough to accommodate several smaller rooms, many of which have been used for installations at events such as the National Review of Live Art.
No visit is complete without a tour round the Hidden Gardens, the attractive landscape at the back of the building developed by NVA in consultation with local people. While you're enjoying a peaceful wander look out for the permanent artworks, including Gerry Loose's sandstone poetry and Alex Finlay's woodland library. Tramway.org
The Lighthouse
The best place to start at the Lighthouse is the top. Take the lift to the sixth floor and step out into the small viewing platform for a panoramic view of the city in all its architectural glory. Alternatively, start at level 3 and climb the helical staircase in the Mackintosh Tower for an uninterrupted view. That will put you in a perfect frame of mind for the gallery: Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City.
Established in 1995 in anticipation of Glasgow's role as UK City of Architecture and Design in 1999, the Lighthouse is a tall and thin gallery occupying what was once a warehouse at the back of the old printing office for the Glasgow Herald. It might seem strangely situated down a narrow alleyway off Buchanan Street, but the building has a prestigious claim to fame. It was designed by a young draughtsman by the name of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Appropriately, the Lighthouse pays tribute to Glasgow's most famous architect with a permanent exhibition on the third floor. There are scale models of some of his best-known buildings, examples of his furniture, a video introduction and extensive photographs to illustrate Mackintosh's widely imitated but never bettered style.
On other floors, there are changing exhibitions showcasing the work of international architects and designers working in fields as diverse as poster-making and product design including a substantial education department with work by young people showcased on level 2. Stretching over two floors (ground and level 2), The Lighthouse Shop presents the best in classic and contemporary design. Alongside homeward, jewellery and stationery is the first Scottish outlet for Marimekko fabrics; the only Vitra retail space outside London and the RIAS Bookshop stocking specialist magazines and publications. Thelighthouse.co.uk
The Modern Institute
Don't be fooled by appearances. It might look as if you're wandering into an office block uninvited, but have faith that this tenement a couple of streets away from Central Station really is where you'll find one of the most talked about galleries in the city. Ignore the book binders and the design consultants and head up to the first floor where two front rooms have been claimed by The Modern Institute.
Inauspicious though the space is, the gallery has been associated with such fashionable names in contemporary art as Richard Wright, Christine Borland, Jim Lambie, Jeremy Deller, Toby Paterson, Claire Barclay, Martin Boyce and Simon Starling. Over the past decade it has made a splash with shows in galleries across Europe and the USA. It has more than one Turner Prize nominee on its books – and winners in Jeremy Deller and Simon Starling – and several who have represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale.
When it's not exporting work to London, Munich and Miami, the gallery is mounting monthly exhibitions of young artists from home and abroad. These artists are as likely to be influenced by pop culture as high art and their work is more likely to take over the whole gallery in 3D installations than sit politely in frames upon the wall.
Billing themselves as ‘culturepreneurs’, the gallery's management team represents around 30 artists at an international level and has helped put Glasgow on the world art map. Themoderninstitute.com
Cultural Quarter
The Merchant City divides itself into two distinct halves. North of the Trongate is all elegant bars, restaurants and jewellers. South is more rough and ready, independent music shops nestling alongside traditional pubs in the streets around the Tron Theatre. Tron.co.uk
In true bohemian style, a generation of artists has made this area its own, moving into a network of galleries and studios and forming a cultural quarter which has been given the seal of approval by a Glasgow City Council redevelopment strategy. When people talk about the vigour of the Glasgow art scene, this is the crucible that makes it possible.
Not that this is immediately apparent. The galleries concerned are necessarily small – most just a single shop front – and some you can miss altogether if you fail to spot the sign on the door. This only adds to the air of adventure and discovery created by the artworks themselves.
The greatest concentration of galleries is in Parnie Street and King Street. Among them you'll find Art Exposure (artexposuregallery.co.uk), which displays monthly selections of sculpture and painting from a roster of nearly 50 artists; the Glasgow Print Studio's Gallery III (gpsart.co.uk), reaping the benefits of over 30 years' experience and 300 artists; and 48 King Street which has become the home of Street Level Photoworks (streetlevelphotoworks.org) and others.
In neighbouring streets, you'll come across the Sharmanka Gallery and its mechanical sculptures (sharmanka.com); the Q Gallery and its gay-friendly programme (qgallery.org); and Sorcha Dallas, a small gallery with a big reputation (sorchadallas.com). There are many more besides in what is one of the fastest changing areas of the city.
