Almost forty years ago I passed the Vets’ School in Edinburgh every day and would always look to its bulky blackness and wonder what was inside. I knew it involved animals and people - but it was a secret only a few could enter. Today it is very different. People are everywhere, moving with industry, painting or shuffling large objects around, and all are allowed in.
Today's mission is to see Helen Denerley's latest exhibition 'Flux' and especially the newest pieces, the humans. This is ambitious even for someone who has created giant sculptures, house-sized spiders and giraffes, an eight-meter infinity column and rooms of butterflies - because the eye picks up what is not right in the human form. If a face is a tiny bit out, it looks cartoonish, but Denerley has succeeded in making these sculptures work. Not only do I see a man, but I see Donald her assistant. Standing man is her first homo sapien. The second is a seated girl and that is even more successful. Wow, I think... a door is open. Denerley can magic most animals into existence. Just for this exhibition, she has made a magnificent new life-size cow, a set of furniture to accompany her chess sets and more, but these newest creations – ourselves - show that the excitement, the spark, remains very alive.
We look forward to showing them in the gallery in September.
