November 21, 2023
/
Image: © Estate of Carol Rhodes
The School of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art is pleased to invite proposals to present at a one-day symposium to be held on the work of the painter Carol Rhodes (1959-2018). Coordinated in conjunction with the Estate of Carol Rhodes, this event is scheduled to take place on the 20th April 2024.
The symposium seeks to speak to Rhodes’ significant artistic legacy, and to encourage the development of new contextual frameworks through which her practice might be engaged with. While the event seeks to locate itself within a timely discussion around the historicization of British women painters of the 20th century, another topic it seeks to address is how an artist’s political ideals and their contribution to a variety of communities might be articulated in relation to their practice.
Known for her depictions of landscape, Rhodes portrayed a world of semi-fictional locations that are at once familiar and ambiguous. Intimately scaled, densely rendered and typically taking an aerial viewpoint, her works often feature uninhabited industrial terrains and ‘edgelands’ – factories, canals, motorways, reservoirs – described by the artist as ‘hidden areas’. Psychologically charged and often muted in colour, Rhodes’s paintings reflect on our experiences of place, the ways in which we perceive, make and adapt our environments. The unique method she developed to make these paintings was based on a rigorous process of drawing and assemblage. This process was informed by aerial photographs, taken herself or found in illustrated books on geography and the environment, and replete with references to the British landscape tradition.
Beyond her own practice, Rhodes was consistently engaged with work on the behalf of others. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1977-82) but following her graduation, became involved in social activism, organising and participating in feminist, pacifist, gay rights and social justice campaigns. She co-founded the Glasgow Free University and, between 1986 and 1988, was part of a burgeoning group of artists associated with the artist-led gallery Transmission. From 1999 onwards, she returned to Glasgow School of Art as a tutor, and would play a pivotal role in the education of many notable Scottish artists of a subsequent generation. In 2012, along with Merlin James, she founded 42 Carlton Place, a gallery space that mounted exhibitions by a dynamic range of painters, including Christina Ramberg, Louis Eilshemius and Adrian Morris.
The intention is to use this event to provoke a broad and innovative series of responses to Rhodes’ life and work. In addition to examinations of specific aspects of her output, submissions will be welcomed on topics that can be reframed through the lens of her practice. These thematic concerns include aerial photography, landscape painting, land rights, feminist practices, fine art pedagogy, technical art history and the historiography of Scottish cultural organisations. Proceedings from the symposium will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Contemporary Painting (Intellect), subject to peer review.
We are seeking proposals:
- These proposals should include the title, theme and content of your contribution.
- Please provide an Abstract or Outline of maximum 300 words. We will also accept equivalent descriptions recorded as audio or video files. If you have any particular access needs that would make the process of submission easier, please email us at: [email protected]
- A range of presentation formats are encouraged, from a traditional paper to more speculative and forms of presentation, including creative writing, artist talk, performance, audio or film work.
- Your contribution should not exceed 20 minutes and shorter formats are welcomed.
Please email your proposal to: [email protected] by 5pm on Friday 1st December.