Questions Not Answers

Went up to Edinburgh Palette at Meadowbank this afternoon to see a couple of exhibitions of work by Portobello artists who I met during the Art Walk at the beginning of September. This is Deirdre Macleod in front of one of two massive pencil drawing pieces called Erasure 1 and 2. As well as taking a few pictures we also had a bit of a chat about the nature of art, and some of the issues that face artists. And also a little bit about what art does - is it about providing answers or is it better at posing questions? If art is too constrained then does the dialogue between artist and viewer become one-sided and didactic? Better to leave things more open to interpretation and allow the viewer to think about what they are looking at and make their own connections? I always like visiting exhibitions with my camera - obviously with the permission of the artists - and trying to see if I can capture my own personal connections to the work through the lens. There was plenty of interesting things to see in both Deirdre's work and that of Mark Haddon next door. Mark's exhibition is entitled Between Two Moons and explores the way in which a journey can become transformative and magical when we discover something unexpected. I won't say too much about my perceptions of the work in case you are able to get along there yourself this weekend. I'll just include a couple of images in my extras to whet your appetite.