The latest pieces on display at Axolotl Gallery on Dundas Street add to the reputation the gallery has fast established for itself – as a platform for new and contemporary figurative art. Two painters’ works are on display, demonstrating how varied and interprative the human figure as subject can be.

Paul Munzi’s ‘Seeing in the Dark’ is a collection of female nudes rendered in an abstract, semi-cubist style. Flat planes of solid colour define form and shape, whilst the palette is light and fresh, filled with yellows, greens and pale blues.

One smaller piece – ‘Undecided’ – drips with mischievous humour from its bold compositional angles, depicting a figure sitting on the floor of an empty room, each leg pointed towards an opposite window.

Some of the smaller more vibrant works have less of an impact, but the large-scale, muted works – such as ‘The Pressure On Annette’, with its haunting, mouthless subject – are visually arresting, and Munzi’s show provides a welcome ray of light in these dark November days.
Harlots by Fiona Wilson

Fiona Wilson has her finger so tightly on the pulse of the zeitgeist, she is in danger of cutting off its circulation. In her ‘Fire & Brimstone’ collection, chiaroscuro oils depict burlesque artists and tattooed nudes, many with wings which transform them into metaphysical beings of light – or darkness. The moody pieces capitalise on the current fascination with the supernatural, combined with the vogue for burlesque and vintage style.

‘Harlots’ is – appropriately enough – a dominant piece, a large work depicting two sultry reclining females figures. The background swirls with dark material and patterns behind them: it and the title give the work a devilish and sinful quality which is compelling. In ‘A Thing Of Beauty’, Wilson has incorporated real bird feathers into the oils, turning her portrait of a young woman into something more beguiling.

Another standout piece is ‘Greed’, featuring a dark-haired woman in provocative pose, her limbs fading into the Klimt-like pattern of the background. Other paintings in the collection are more graphical in style, feeling like panels from a graphic novel at times, but Wilson’s siren-like oils are most definitely the seductive stars of this show.

Both artists’ works are on display at Axolotl Gallery until 25 November 2010

Step into Axolotl between now and October 17, and you’ll find yourself in a surreal and unsettling world. Filled with strange creatures, eerie objects and a sense of the macabre, Freak Show is possibly the gallery’s most intriguing exhibition yet.

Claire McGee’s large-scale oils are immediately arresting: bold architectural compositions in dark tones with rare splashes of colour. As much intended to be read as viewed, her pieces are rich in symbolism. From the stone carvings on the detailed interiors to the otherworldly figures which inhabit the spaces, her paintings speak in a language that is not easy to interpret, but which is fascinating to explore.

Dreams of the the Republic I & II feature merry-go-round creatures suspended in time and space, whilst female figures stare from the canvas with challenging eyes. The architectural draftsmanship on display is impressive; whilst the incongruent figures and supernatural beings make nods to such varied references as Hieronymous Bosch and 1970s progressive rock LP covers.

Striking in scale and vision, McGee’s works have a dream-like quality which lingers in the mind’s eye long after viewing.

Jeannie Laub’s work falls into two categories. First, her often soft, delicate oil and mixed media pieces, which use childlike imagery and themes to evoke a strange yet comforting quality. There are exceptions to this mood however, and Young Man From Selkirk with its ghostly-white central character almost devoid of features; and Girl With A Crow Mask – with its detached central characters – are both deliciously disturbing.

Laub’s second body of work are a series of untitled assemblage and found object pieces. Each small box is filled with figurines, dolls, scraps of paper and other trinkets to create a haunting whole which begs multiple interpretations based on the viewer’s own experience and memories. Several of the pieces feature taxidermy animals, and become memento mori for the symbols they represent: whether a lament for a bird never more destined to fly; or a homage to a fox, its stuffed head presiding watchfully over the rest of the box’s contents.

This is the first show curated by AXO artist Jillox, and she has successfully created a portal to a world of imagination and dreams, which beckons bewitchingly from its Dundas Street home.

".....head further into the New Town to Dundas Street to the aptly named Freak Show at Axolotl Gallery. This two-person exhibition brings together the dark-themed canvases of Claire McGee and the box constructions and paintings of Jeanie Laub to quite creepy effect.It's a mood the gallery is keen to foster;it's website describes McGee's approach as" a touch of the showgirl meets Kafka", while each of Laub's box constructions"draws us into it's dark and dusty interior ,our eyes and mind...compelled to explore fully it's strange intimacy"There is something unarguably dreamlike about these individual works that intensifies when they are gathered side by side."

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Katie Cooke - Balancing Act
"This body of work is a concise but moving depiction of the photographer’s struggle through several courses of surgery, which may have left her unable to walk. The pinhole exposures correspond with the length of time Cooke was able to stand and represent a kind of pictorial diary as much as a thematic series."

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TAKING the concept of suffering for your art to a whole new level, Edinburgh-based photographer Katie Cooke produced the long-exposure photographs in this exhibition between two major surgeries on her hip.

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Exploring the primitive need for belief systems in an increasingly confusing world, Culross based artist Mike Inglis presents Transmit: a series of stark, graphic and narrative based screen prints. Juxtaposing ancient and modern religious icons from voodoo rituals, catholic symbolism and contemporary graffiti, Transmit portrays and alternative moral code for a modern disconnected population.

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"Transmit represents yet another successful installation at Axolotl, continuing its mission to showcase original new talent. With the introduction of each new artist to its body of exhibited work, it cements its place further as one of Edinburgh’s most exciting, innovative and rewarding galleries."

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"The Axolotl Gallery holds a deceptively sugary appeal from Dundas Street; its bright purple shop front displays colourful, surreal paintings promising an array of delectable, cultural sweets for passing dilettantes. The interior, reminiscent of a boutique, is open and uncluttered yet holds various separate spaces to discover unique treasures, trinkets and memories."

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"Edinburgh’s newest gallery’s spring exhibition presents an outstanding selection of work by Scottish-based artists as well as one or two pieces from future exhibitors that contrast and complement their neighbours. The show encompasses a range of work, from photography and painting, to ceramics and sculptural resin, which lends it an air of surprise and variety."

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"With its fresh, challenging and vibrant approach, after just two shows the gallery is firmly cementing its place as an unmissable stopping point on Edinburgh’s art circuit."

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"ADMIRABLY, the latest gallery in Edinburgh's Dundas Street, the Axolotl Gallery sets out to challenge that assumption about contemporary art by showing figurative or narrative artists. The gallery is a beautiful space with big windows and lots of light. The gallery is named after an endangered species of salamander – the axolotl is of interest to science because in a juvenile state it can regrow limbs and can also be sexually mature while still juvenile."

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