Angela Lemaire’s exhibition of prints and beautiful books, Alpha and Omega, is tucked away in McNaughton’s bookshop. Here, in one room, an almost baffling amount of her work is being exhibited. Though it is impossible to take everything in, there are some wonderful pieces, ranging from abstract, colourful self-portraits to harrowing depictions of the Plague.
A bookshop should be a perfectly apt setting for Lemaire’s work because she possesses such a strong enthusiasm for literature and the combination of text and image. Dominating the exhibition is artwork which accompanies Christopher Smart’s religious poem ‘Jubliate Agno’. Using seven different colours of ink and printed in gold and silver, the work pays tribute to the Gutenberg Bible brilliantly. Lemaire aims to create a similar feeling of adoration for creation in her drawings as is communicated by Smart and a sense of joy and liveliness is definitely present in her colourful and elegant etchings. The Hunted Stag captures movement particularly well and one work titled Mackerel, Salmon, Dolphin, Mermaid delicately focuses on the treasures and mythical delights of the sea.
More intriguing, however, are Lemaire’s portraits of people. An Actor and the Path to the Sun stands out because of the unconventional use of colour and its strangely distant face. Pastel colours in Crown - a self-portrait - also stand out far more than works depicting the Alpha and Omega; they have a far greater sense of originality and are much easier to appreciate. In part, though, this is because so much of Lemaire’s work for Jubliate Agno is physically difficult to access; central parts of the exhibition, explaining the history behind it, are out of reach in display folders. This is a great shame since it could have made a fantastic visual spectacle.
Lemaire’s darker work is similarly hidden away, but harder to ignore. Lemaire is strongly interested in Defoe’s descriptions of the Plague and she gives another voice to suffering in prints which are completely devoid of colour. Decaying horses and manically screaming skeletons feature, all serving to accentuate the sense of agony. Interestingly, they are also matched with biblical verses which refer to pain and suffering - a stark contrast to Jubliate Agno. The best use of text in the whole exhibition also appears on the last page of a display book; ‘Ring a Ring o’ Roses’ is set in dramatic black capitals, making the whole collection even more poignant.
There is no doubt that Lemaire has talent, but this exhibition is poorly curated and for that reason it is likely that many will miss out on it. However, despite being clumsily organised (the visitors’ comments book is open for another artist when I arrive) it’s still great to see something a little different at The Fringe and Lemaire’s enthusiasm for the themes she chooses to focus on is infectious.
