In October 2021 the Scottish artist and gallerist, Caroline Gormley, launched an exhibition of artist/activist Jamie Reid’s work, entitled ‘Taking Liberties! 50 Years of Protest, at her Made In Paisley Gallery.
Reid created some of the best known and iconic images of the Punk Rock era.
Prior to punk exploding within the mainstream consciousness, Reid, together with Jeremy Brook and Nigel Edwards, co-founded the community printshop, Suburban Press and its eponymous countercultural magazine, which served as a platform for dissenting voices, offering localised perspectives on issues such as small-town politics and business…..1
Reid's approach to publishing, infused with Situationist principles, embraced the do-it-yourself ethos prevalent during that period.
The same DIY ethos is deeply ingrained in Scottish subculture, running through music scenes, art movements and pop up galleries like a principled spine.
The Kids are brought up on it here, Fluoride like, in the water; the inherent belief in not waiting around for someone else to offer solutions, makes Glasgow and the West Coast spectacularly unpretentious and endlessly resourceful.
“You talk about community and I think that ties up really nicely with the Glasgow scene,” says Alex Kapranos. “A lot of the support has to do with the size of Glasgow. When you go to bigger cities like New York, LA or London, you tend to find that scenes are very localised. Glasgow itself allows for the right amount of interaction between people, without it being too big to splinter off into smaller scenes.” 2
Glasgow is an ideal setting for artists preoccupied with social, political and cultural questions. Craig Tannock, director of local live music venues Stereo and Mono says, “One of the basic reasons why Glasgow has become so culturally alive is the combination of two strong elements; high sensitivity to anything pretentious is part of the natural culture of Glasgow – but that is linked with an amazing open-mindedness, [that says], ‘well, let’s see what you’ve got.’” 3
A world where people created beautiful, beguiling art because the punk rock aftershock had democratised it, 4
Well, let’s see what you’ve got….no ego,? for the satellite town and suburban dwelling kids making music in their bedrooms, attending night classes in painting, effecting change in whatever way works for them, lets see what you’ve got.
1 Jess Baines, Tony Credland and Mark Pawson, Doing it ourselves: countercultural and alternative radical publishing in the decade before punk, Ripped, Torn and Cut, The Subcultures Network ( Manchester University Press 2018) p23-2
2 The Skinny, Alex Kapranos on Glasgow music doc Lost in France, Feature by Lewis Porteous | 01 Feb 2017
3 Dr. Sarah Lowndes? https://lnkd.in/ejZjR8FR "People make Glasgow" - Exploring Glasgow's visual art scene,??
4 Andrew Weatherall, Book of the Month ‘This Is Memorial Device by David Keenan’ Caught By the River, 2nd February 2017
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