[click here] for his SR poems of the year so…

[click here] for his SR poems of the year so far

Angus Skinner

The shirt made by Angus McPhee

Then, no doubt his brain working away unconsciously, he jammed on the brakes and said, Of course there is the man who makes things out of grass.

The Swiss got the shirt, for a while. Perhaps a little first class attention to Joyce is also in order. She is a national treasure.

     When people are in flow they have little sense of time, they switch off from other matters. Joyce talked of one major hugely successful Scottish artist and his sense of being insane at his most creative moments. Very few achieve it she said, though many enough pretend to. Fully absorbed; strongly creative – vibrant. Is that, I asked, the more holistic state – a state of consciousness and unconsciousness together? We did not resolve that question. Not thinking, we agreed, was a good goal – and difficult to achieve. Different than sleep. I was reminded of the dance of Shiva, always in motion. Of Krishnamurti and of Christ. We deal with universal not Scottish issues here.
     Addicts and spiritualists have offered, and do offer, their work to Joyce. Some of that is interesting, much is repetitive and boring (my words, not hers). The problem is that it is not authentic, not raw. Several works are reminiscent of Pieter Bruegel. As Louise Milne so accurately and fully describes in her analysis of that post-plague renaissance crisis of imagination and culture, ‘Carnivals and Dreams’, those works are also about understanding the unconscious and the creative act. But reminiscent is as far as they get. The unconscious, argues Milne, is not a different land. And these works are a long way from Bruegel. Bruegel was not ‘art brut’. Maybe consciousness is a good thing. Even a good activity. Still compelling in their production, and especially their rawness, these works are compelling to see. To sense.
     The future of the collection is a worry. Joyce has not heard from Creative Scotland. In fairness, as with others, she recognises that the ball is in her court. But really? Is it no part of Creative Scotland’s responsibilities to look outside itself? Some excellent work has been done by a curator seconded from the National Museum. And Joyce has an offer for the collection to be stored at the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre near the Burrell. But that would be storage, not exhibition.
     Would Creative Scotland not like to exhibit some Art Extraordinaire at its new HQ in the centre of Edinburgh? I would recommend Angus McPhee’s trousers made from grass. The Swiss got the shirt, for a while. Perhaps a little first class attention to Joyce is also in order. She is a national treasure. In looking at these works we learn something of ourselves. And in how we deal with art we learn something of our society. Is Creative Scotland sane enough to exhibit Art Extraordinaire? The Swiss were.
     Joyce tells me that there has been no central funding of a new gallery in Scotland for 50 years (Shetland, Orkney and Uist have had new galleries, all funded by Europe). There is so much art we just don’t see. And that’s just not healthy.
     If you want to sense the difference between a computer image and reality go see Angus McPhee’s grass trousers in Pittenweem. Or maybe at Creative Scotland, if they have sense. If you can’t find the gallery ask anyone for Joyce.

www.artextraordinarytrust.co.uk

Angus Skinner is a penal reformer and retired senior
civil servant