The Auld Acquaintance exhibition is now fully underway in its two UK venues; Leiper Fine Art on West George Street, Glasgow and the News & Media Gallery at the head offices of The Guardian & Observer newspapers, part of the Kings Place arts venue in London.
Private views were held in the last couple of weeks. A busy night in Glasgow saw contributing cartoonists Terry Anderson, Frank Boyle, Danny Cardle, Elfreda Crehan, Brian Flynn, Bill Houston, Ranald MacColl, Lewis Mackenzie, Lorna Miller, Frank Quitely, Chris Sommerville and Chris Watson pop in among other guests.
As in the exhibition’s French showing, work has been arranged according to point of origin with the additional bonus of a section of original drawings and paintings. These are for sale, as are prints of the digitally submitted work.
A range of Q&A sessions will be taking place in the gallery in the next fortnight including contributions from F.Boyle and L.Miller as well as Chris Cairns, David Kerr, Malc McGookin, Greg Moodie, Cinders McLeod and the Comic Soapbox Scotland project. Book places at these free talks via Eventbrite.
Meanwhile the London viewing was visited by T.Anderson on behalf of the Studio as well as contributors Steve Bell, Dave Brown and Ross Thomson with the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation represented by “The Surreal McCoy”. Also attending was Dr Rhiannon McGlade of University College who was instrumental in reaching cartooning colleagues in Catalonia while were putting the exhibition together earlier this year.
The Guardian have gone for a scattershot approach to their display which makes for impressive visual impact. At both venues the cartoons are highly visible from street level and sure to attract lots of interest from commuters and tourists. In Glasgow the show is a stone’s throw from the offices of both the “Yes Scotland” and “No Thanks” campaigns and handy for the city’s rail link to Edinburgh. In London it’s in the thick of the hubbub at Kings Cross/St Pancras and not far from the newly opened House of Illustration.
The exhibitions are free of charge and open daily. The show will close the weekend after the referendum. In Glasgow we shut on the 19th and in London on the 21st of September.
Our continued thanks to everyone who has given time and effort to make our tour a success, in particular Ewan Kennedy and Niall Campbell at Leiper Fine Art and Luke Dodd and David McCoy at The Guardian.
