Stephen Sutcliffe: Work from the Collection // Gallery 3
Work from the Collection opened last Thursday evening and is an exhibition by the Glasgow-based artist Stephen Sutcliffe. Glasgow Museums purchased five works by Sutcliffe for the City’s collection in 2013 but this is the first time the wall drawing, photograph and films are being exhibited in the gallery. We are delighted that Sutcliffe has lent us two further works for inclusion in the show.
Sutcliffe’s work draws upon an extensive personal archive of broadcast material and printed ephemera that he has collected over a number of years. The appropriation and reimaging of original materials is present throughout Sutcliffe’s films, drawings and photographs.
In his wall drawings and photographs he has reworked cartoons by Saul Steinberg, whose work often featured in The New Yorker magazine. In his films, recordings from television, cinema and radio are edited together to make poetic new works that focus on anxiety and self-doubt. His careful editing of sound and image creates an awkwardness or interruption, which is often humorous at first glance, but can be read as quite dark and satirical, revealing an interest in the subversion of dominant narratives about communication, power and class.