Jim Lambie - Kebabylon

25 January to 23 March 2003

Jim Lambie: installation view, "Kebabylon", Inverleith House, 2003. Jim Lambie ‘Kebabylon'

Jim Lambie born in Bellshill in 1964 and studied at the Environmental Department in Glasgow school of Art which placed an emphasis on context and placement (something which has heavily influenced all his work to date).

Working most famously using vinyl tape in now iconic works such as ‘Zobop', Lambie, one time DJ and band member of The Boy Hairdressers who went on to become Teenage Fanclub, finds his key influence music and more specifically pop. Predominately using found objects such as record turntables and abandoned gloves and belts, Lambie then injects serious colour into the white cube of the gallery space with his shiny enamel paint and slick clean lines.

The works in ‘Kebabylon' continued this theme, starting with a black driving glove in the downstairs gallery with its fingers propped up on five canes and at the foot of each of these canes a different coloured pool of enamel paint: silver, blue green, and two different shades of red. Next to this was ‘Revolver' the iconic Beatles album of 1966, which had been whitewashed and revolved to the extent that it looked like self titled album. The Beatles' more commonly called ‘The White Album' was designed by pop royalty Richard Hamilton in 1968. In the conjoining room ‘Psychedelic Soul Stick' a positive rhythm stick of colour carried you through and prepared you for the penultimate room on the ground floor which contained ‘Span Dancing', the Jackson Pollock of the 2000s. Bag straps wired to the walls suggested Pollocks ‘Autumn Rhythm' of 1950 replacing action painting with a three-dimensional dancing parade which surrounded the viewer.

Moving upstairs, Lambie created a variation on his floor pieces by attaching black duct tape all over the floor of the gallery throughout the four rooms. ‘Head and Shoulders (With Conditioner)' showed him also utilising the tape to erase all the text from record sleeves which lined the one wall of the gallery. A series of small sculptures punctuated the gallery space as well made from mirrors, modrock and gloss paint.

Jim Lambie was nominated for The Turner Prize in 2005 and has shown at numerous galleries around the world. A comprehensive monograph on the artist, Voidoid, was published in 2004. He lives and work in Glasgow, Scotland.

Exhibtion supported by The Henry Moore Foundation and The Scottish Arts Council. Presented in Association with The Modern Institute, Glasgow and Sadie Coles HQ, London.

List of Works

Fat Burner (Glove, Cane, Enamel Paint)
120cm (height) 60cm (diameter)

Revolver (Poster, Paint)
90cm (height) 64cm (width)

Psychedelic Soul Stick (Cane, Thread)
110cm (height) 6cm (diameter)

No Problemo (Mirrors, Mudrock, Gloss Paint)
100cm (height) 70cm x 66cm (width)

Head and Shoulders (With Conditioner) (Record Sleeves, Duct Tape)
270cm (height) 540cm (width)

Double Rainbow (Mirrors, Mudrock, Gloss Paint)
72cm (height) 49cm x 70cm (width)

Curved Air (Mirrors, Mudrock, Gloss Paint)
52cm (height) 78cm x 46cm (width)

Muscletech (Mirrors, Mudrock, Gloss Paint)
15cm (height) 60cm x 38cm (width)

Mental Oyster (Mirrors, Mudrock, Gloss Paint)
26cm (height) 60cm x 38cm (width)

Chemical Kebab (Mirrors, Mudrock, Gloss Paint)
10cm (height) 54cm x 37cm (width)

Jim Lambie: installation view, "Kebabylon", Inverleith House, 2003.

All works courtesy of the artist, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, and Sadie Coles HQ, London.

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