Strong celebration of diversity and energy

After 116 years the Society of Scottish Artists shows no sign of straying from its founding principle — to represent the more “adventurous spirits” in contemporary art. Indeed, the society seems to go from strength to strength.

Apart from the quality of the submissions, curation is what makes or breaks such a large and diverse show. This year’s team have put together a pared-down selection, following the well-worn idea that less is more. About 140 artists and groups are represented. The show has less gallery space but it has not suffered — in fact it may have improved.

Where possible work in each of the five galleries has been grouped thematically or by medium. The largest, gallery II, contains large
wall-mounted works and interventions such as Diaspora Paradiso, an installation by Juliana Capes made from scores of umbrellas that burst from the wall and dangle from the light fittings. Capes makes sculpture from everyday objects; here she plays on superstitions surrounding umbrellas being opened indoors. Nearby a large wooden installation by Nicole Heidtke and Stefan Baumberger suggests shelter and refuge. It plays sound recorded along the Crinan canal.

In the same gallery Wild Awake and Miles, two large monochrome works by Ade Adesina, artist-in-residence at Eton College, present a dystopian vision of a future world — desiccated and dominated by menacing tree-like structures that serve as mini cities and oil platforms. Adesina is Nigerian and the link between fossil fuels and environmental destruction in his own country is not difficult to make.

An installation by the Korean artist Jihoon Son made from collages of printed watercolours and cardboard cut-outs is also eye-catching. Son combines human and vegetal forms in lurid and disconcerting combinations.

There are quieter works that nevertheless speak eloquently and with depth. Among these are Summoned and Travellers 2, ink-on-paper studies by Jana Emburey that although abstract address concerns such as overpopulation and environmental degradation.

Su Grierson worked with the performance artist Brigid McCarthy to create a video installation that celebrates the natural environment. The pair circumvent the more clichéd approaches to time-based art.

Bettina Hutschek created a film based on dynamic audio and still photographs that like others explores a dystopian fantasy future. The chilling narrative involves a female inmate in a secure facility who is dosed with radioactive substances to allow her access to the “life beyond”.

The society has continued with its laudable policy of encouraging the work of emerging artists by showing the work of graduates from Scotland’s five art colleges. This year’s selection, which includes Thomas Stephenson from Dundee, Kate Livingstone from Edinburgh and Rachael Horsburgh from Moray, demonstrates a healthy creativity.

Diversity, clarity and energy are the key words here. Long may they remain so.

ssaexhibition.co.uk, until November 24