Architecture Meets Art exhibition opens at the Theatre Royal

The prestigious and dramatic setting of the Upper Circle of Glasgow’s Theatre Royal will host the Scotland Re-Invented themed art exhibition, #AmeetsA 2015. The exhibition runs from 7 to 9 September.

The award-winning refurbished and re-opened Glasgow landmark will showcase bespoke works specially created for #AmeetsA 2015 by a cast of talented artists, all currently working in Scotland and beyond.

Their inspirational works will then be auctioned after the exhibition closes to raise funds for Enable Scotland at a Gala Dinner in the city’s Corinthian Club on September 10 hosted by one of the UK’s most successful female comedians, Jo Caulfield.

The second edition of #AmeetsA asked artists to reimagine some of Scotland’s legendary landmark buildings posing the questions: ‘What would the Riverside Museum look like if you had designed it? What would George Square look like if you were in charge of the Council’s decisions? How would the Edinburgh castle look like if you had been Mary Queen of Scots?’

Artists submitted their work to Double S Events at the end of July and the results of this imaginative quest to uncover Scotland Re-Invented is now to be exhibited to raise funds for Enable Scotland. The charity supports children and adults with learning disabilities to live, work and take part in their communities.

Event creator Sara, founder of arts and architecture events firm Double S Events, said: “After the overwhelming success last year with the participation of more than 20 very talented individuals we raised £20k for Enable Scotland. This year we asked even more participants to get involved and create something unique once again, this time inspired by the many extraordinary buildings, squares, monuments and corners that populate Scotland.”

And she added: “I am thrilled and humbled that we are again being supported by such wonderful artists and overwhelmed that we have attracted even more to swell our ranks.”

An amazing array of architects, designers, artists and photographers have accepted the Domus Tiles sponsored #AmeetsA 2015 challenge to create a unique piece of art to support Enable Scotland.

Bespoke Atelier, Briggs & Cole, David Gardner, Marion Gardyne, Isabel and Clara Garriga, Anna Gibb + Holo, Giorgio Granozio, David Mach, Tom Manley, Lauren Li Porter and Christine Thomson have all chosen to support this extraordinary event.

Fife based sculptor and installation artist David Mach has created five collages for #AmeetsA 2015. The Turner Prize nominated Scots artist is currently Professor of Sculpture at The Royal Academy of Arts and was delighted to participate in this year’s charity exhibition.

He explained his choices around the works he has created for the 2015 edition: “Scotland Re-invented… I love Scotland as it is but it is a really easy and interesting theme for me, inspiring no end of ideas to think how it might change.

“What if global warming came to Scotland and gave us a tropical climate? Imagine how nice that would be. What if we put the Nor Loch back into Edinburgh and you could swim or fish below the castle or if it was a naturist paradise?

“In the five collages I’m presenting, I’ve just turned the temperature up a bit.”

Architect and artist Anna Gibb will be showcasing her highly detailed, idiosyncratic urban landscape postcards framed by the innovative eco Holo frame which she has developed with the manufacturer. The works she has chosen to donate are from a collection of drawings which underline her love for Glasgow.

Sisters Isabel and Clara Garriga, both Mackintosh School of Architecture graduates who practice together at architects Holmes Miller, will be part of the exhibition and have chosen to donate their striking Homo Arkitect_US piece for the event. Their colleague David Gardner, Design Director at the practice, has chosen to donate his inventive and stark graphic reimagining of Glasgow’s maze of city streets.

Meanwhile artist Tom Manley returns to support the second edition of #AmeetsA with his mixed media print ‘Edgemont Street’.

Tom, who worked in architectural practice before turning to photography, said: “Edgemont Street nestled into the landscape of Shawlands, is typical of the ‘Dear Green City’s’ tenement lined streets. Originally conceived as a commission for a private client I was thinking about the Architecture Meets Art brief whilst making this. The image has been worked up in layers starting with elements taken from a photograph of the scene and then built up with sketches and digital colouring, to try and capture the magic of Glasgow’s, landscape, architecture and light quality.”

A limited number of tickets are still available for the Gala Dinner, visit www.ameetsa.com for more.