Having previously exhibited in the Netherlands and Sweden, Pop Life finds its way to Edinburgh with an altered line-up that includes several Scottish artists. Pop Life plays fast and loose with its identity as an exhibition, quite literally drawing from popular culture through depictions of the human form.
Witte Wartena hits both themes brilliantly with his drawings of scenes from popular British television shows like Have I Got News for You and University Challenge. His watercolour representations of these programmes depict episodes in which politicians feature, bringing into the forefront the role that entertainment media plays in our political systems. From Boris Johnson on a panel show to Kwasi Kwarteng testing his quiz knowledge for all to see, Wartena makes us question what those with political aspirations have to gain through entertainment.
Similarly on brand with the exhibition’s mission statement are Laura Bruce’s enormous graphite portraits of several country singers, accompanied by renditions of their music performed by the artist’s band. The towering portraits evoke the imagery of memorabilia, uncanny detailed depictions taken from their natural environment on the side of a mug or a faded T-shirt and placed, like a fish out of water, into a gallery space. What’s more pop art than that?
Other works, like Fiona Michie’s shockingly detailed pencil drawings, ooze atmosphere, using Scottish settings to evoke imagery of the pop culture of the past in an interpolation of classic literature and film.
Much like Michie, Euan Gray draws upon the pop culture of the past with his reproduction of a sequence from John Huston’s Moulin Rouge (1952) in ‘Dancers’.
The drawings’ grainy texture and imperfect shapes hold in stasis what was only meant to be seen in 1/24th of a second. Accompanying the Dancers is ‘Dancer’, a piece depicting a woman performing a TikTok routine. The contrast of past and present is used effectively to illustrate the significant change in pace and style that our popular culture has undertaken.
Pop Life offers a great range of interpretations of both figurative drawing and popular culture, drawing from a variety of different eras and styles.
Pop Life is at Edinburgh’s City Arts Centre until March 9th 2025. More info here.
Main Image: Paul-McDevitt, Notes to Self, 19 January 2020, Ink and acrylic on paper. Image courtesy of the artist.
