Report from Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute
Art among the marbled opulence of Mount Stuart on Bute
ORGASMADDICT. Twenty years after first visiting the enchanting architectural masterpiece of Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute, I would have never guessed that record would be the link for returning.
The single’s cover sleeve, by the punk band the Buzzcocks, been brazenly shown off by myself, hanging out my school bag as an ernest teenager was the reason I was back.
Linder Sterling, aka Linder, who had originally designed the iconic racy single cover, had been commissioned to produce new art works for Mount Stuart.
For those who have never visited Mount Stuart, it is a spectacular Neo-Gothic, ‘A’ listed private home, almost totally rebuilt following a fire in the 1870’s by Scotland’s foremost Edwardian architect Sir Roland Anderson for the wealthy aristocrat The Marquis of Bute.
Anderson also designed the Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. Although they share the same scale of columned hall, the materials and detailing, it soars Into a league of its own, keeping out Glasgow’s City Chambers.
I had been expecting the exhibition to hit me like first viewing the Epstein Rockdrill, but it was the opposite, the works were subtle and had almost merged seamlessly into the layered fabric of this extraordinary building.
Once I had tuned in - thank you, Morvern - the works began to emerge in layers and enrich this wonderful experience.The carefully positioned books set the back dialogue and the key – Sir Walter Scott’s the Lay of the Last Minstrel, Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Marina Warner’s From the Beast to the Blonde – gave a code to try and decipher the linking of glamour, children’s tales and feminism through a series of considered art works throughout the main rooms.
The works combine images of fairytale tea parties with childhood photographs from Mount Stuart’s own family collection with provocative photomontages in full Dada that provides a robust counter to the carved coats of arms depicting the male lineage set within the historic walls.
Frustratingly, I was unable to see the commissioned performance that was choregraphed to link these works together by Holly Blakey: all that was left was the strange sensual costumes by Ashish Gupta with access for multiple hands and a voluptuous Alison Watt-esque dress in red and tinsel epaulettes that would suit Elton John, skilfully embroided by West Dean Tapestry Studio.
However the performance set to music by Maxwell Sterling will travel to the mystical Oak Lawn at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh on August 7 to open EAF25
The exhibition will run at Mount Stuart until August 31. Linder’s major touring retrospective Linder: Danger Came Smiling will be presented within Inverleith House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh until October 19.
CRICHTON WOOD
