Wallinger, Collis, Rosen

The best venue we visited in Edinburgh during the lousy festival was at the Ingleby Gallery, who were showing work by Mark Wallinger, Susan Collis, and Kay Rosen (a longtime fave, and high on my list of artists I'd like to publish). Wallinger's contribtuion was the above billboard, which I liked better when I thought it was by Rosen. Collis played with the fact that the gallery has just relocated by presenting a room that looked half-installed: there were tiny holes in the wall, drips on the floor and a paint-splattered broom rested in the corner. The trompe l'oeil at work is that the screws in the wall are solid gold and the paint on the floor is mother of pearl. It's a pretty effective trick, and plays into my empty gallery fetish, but I fear it also exploits the preciousness of the expensive materials. Roula likes it more than I do but the local Edinburgh-born artist certainly holds her own against the Turner Prize winning Wallinger and the well respected Rosen. Rosen had the top floor, which consisted of framed works and wall paintings, most of which were pretty great, but despite being text-based, are hard to describe and do justice to. The are simple without being simplistic, somehow. I wish I had thought to take photos.