Crafted bronzes and celebrations of colour

Where to draw the line between art and craft? Perhaps the question is no longer relevant because there can be no such distinction. Two practitioners who operate in very different media and come from radically diverse traditions certainly seem to straddle what once were mutually exclusive ideas.

Koji Hatakeyama, now a professor at Kanazawa College of Art in Ishikawa, is the embodiment of the Japanese master-craftsman whose craft is also a fine art. Hatakeyama is a metal-worker, specifically with bronze, a practice which dates back to the early 17th century in Toyama Prefecture, where he was born.

Hatakeyama’s geometric, multi-faceted vessels, decorated with complex, abstract patinas are the result of laborious and meticulous craftsmanship, underpinned by the skills of the metallurgist. The vessels are cast in the traditional way, using moulds, and the patinas created using substances ranging from miso paste to vinegar. Gilding, polishing and rubbing all take place before the vessels are complete.

Remove a lid and golden light emerges delicately onto the face or hands, for these works seem to have their roots in both the practical and spiritual realm, as components of the complex, deeply traditional tea ceremony.

These are objects that have a high aesthetic value but are also to be used and touched; this combination of the inner and outer, embraced in the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, makes them exquisitely satisfying on all levels.

Lachlan Goudie is well known as a gifted writer and broadcaster. Here he has turned his attention to the craft and art of painting, which he learned, not in a formal art school setting, but through his father, the estimable artist, Alexander Goudie, who died in 2004. (The venue mounted an impressive memorial show of the senior Goudie in 2006).

It’s clear that Goudie junior has inherited his love of paint from his father, and some of his talent too. After studying English at Cambridge, Lachlan went on to paint largely under his own tutelage, and it’s interesting to speculate, as the catalogue hints, what his work may have been like had he had a more formal training.

Lachlan Goudie’s subject matter is diverse. From the crimson sunsets of western California to the sea and stone of Antibes, and from the shipyards of Rosyth to the High Atlas of Morocco, Goudie seems to take all in his stride, hungry with the urgent need to capture, represent and celebrate colour, form and the energy of light. Goudie’s is a younger talent, but one which is clearly on an upward trajectory. What he lacks in technique, depth and experience he makes up for in charm, grace and enthusiasm.

Finding two such appealing but diverse shows under one roof is a rare visual treat and well worth seeing.

Both exhibitions run until November 27