Jan Patience: Scotland’s surprising, moving new art talent

The New Contemporaries exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh offers a chance to see emerging art talent.

The 14th edition opens on Saturday at the academy on Princes Street and features 57 emerging artists and architects selected from Scottish undergraduate degree shows in 2021.

According to Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) convener, Annie Cattrell, this year, “visitors can look forward to being surprised and moved” by the show.

With prizes totalling over £20,000, including the prestigious £10,000 Glenfiddich Artist in Residence award, being selected as a New Contemporary is a big deal for any emerging artist.

This year’s New Contemporaries offers a snapshot of talent under one graceful neo-classical roof in the shape of painting, sculpture, film-making, photography, printmaking, installation, performance and architecture.

Cattrell made the selection of visual art exhibitors with assistance from fellow RSA artists – or Academicians as they are known – and representatives from the five main colleges of art in Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Moray.

The five Scottish schools of architecture are also represented by graduates selected by architecture convener Rab Bennetts.

Cattrell says of the work being displayed: “This year’s exhibition will include imaginative and thought-provoking work that reflects the enormous creativity and resourcefulness of this student cohort, who experienced the full impact of the pandemic uncertainty, most especially in their final year of study.

“It is particularly exciting to see the magnificent RSA galleries filled with the fruits of this diverse and emergent talent.

“Visitors can look forward to being surprised and moved by the eclectic methods and innovations used in the production of these meaningful artworks.”

Amen to all of that.

If, like me, you enjoy a good art read, check out a beautiful new book called Scotland And The Origins Of Modern Art, by Duncan Macmillan. Professor Emeritus of the History of Scottish Art at the University of Edinburgh, and long-term art critic for The Scotsman, Macmillan sets out a persuasive and original argument which states that the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th Century has a significant influence on art and ideas within the wider story of European Art.