·        Jock McFadyen revisits 1990s Underground series for gallery’s show

·        Cityscapes and Tube stations feature in immersive exhibition at City gallery

·        Recordings of Tube lines transform artworks into “living, breathing organisms”

 

Huge paintings of London cityscapes and Tube stations, and layered recordings of the lines’ creaks, groans, and grinding of rails will immerse visitors to Guildhall Art Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition. 

Opening on 27 February at the City Corporation’s gallery, Jock McFadyen and Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) brings together the Paisley-born Royal Academician and the founding member of The Pogues, whose songwriting credits include Fiesta, The Sunny Side of the Street, and Fairytale of New York.

Jock McFadyen and Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) revisits McFadyen’s series, Underground, which was first conceived in the late 1990s and is now reimagined for this unique collaboration with Finer, which has been co-curated by the City Corporation’s Head of Guildhall Art Gallery, Elizabeth Scott.

In McFadyen’s works, such as Bank and Ghost, familiar Underground signs and structures dissolve and create a tension between recognition and disorientation. In contrast, expansive cityscapes offer a counterpoint to the shadowed subway interiors, with works, such as Popular Enclosure, featuring cool and serene views of London with radiant blue skies. Each work is connected site-specifically to its respective Tube station.

Transforming the underground city in McFadyen’s paintings into a living, breathing organism, Finer’s field recordings of the Northern line and Central line are mechanical and melodic, punctuated by a range of common, but hard-to-place, urban noises – the creaks, groans, and pips that accompany commuters.

Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage, and Libraries, Brendan Barns, said:

“Jock McFadyen’s consummate skill in presenting epic views of the capital which, at the same time, convey a sense of intimacy, as well as beauty and decay, are sure to engage and impress visitors.

“Adding Jem Finer’s atmospheric soundscapes from the Tube network to the mix is particularly intriguing, and it will undoubtedly make for a very memorable experience.”

Jock McFadyen said:

“Many of us descend daily into the tunnels and carriages that offer rapid access to distant parts of our urban world. 

“We see and hear a remarkable variety of things there, but how often do we pay attention to the graffiti-daubed exteriors, the rails, pipes, struts, and wires that adorn the surface of the spaces through which we pass? How often do we really listen to all the mysterious mechanical and organic sounds that emanate from the subterranean caverns that house our public transport?

“I’m honoured that Jem has contributed such a beautiful soundtrack to my Underground series, one that is far superior to my original idea of a simple raw recording of closing doors, announcements, and the rattling and grinding of rails. It is a wonderful haunting piece, which seems to unfold with new sounds every time I hear it.”

Jem Finer said:

“I hoped to find a resonance with Jock’s paintings where the figurative dissolves into abstraction. I remembered him writing “All paintings are abstract. The subject of all my paintings is the paint”. I feel the same way about sound… about it being the focus of composing.

“For me, the form is important, but the sound is the true subject. I started to flip Jock’s thinking and work with the sounds I’d recorded in the way that he might work with paint, transformed just far enough that there remains a trace of familiarity while becoming something unexpected, newly discovered.”

Following the success of a flexible ‘Pay What You Can’ admission charge for three of the gallery’s previous exhibitions, it will be applicable for Jock McFadyen and Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface).

Guildhall Art Gallery is an integral part of the City’s rich and vibrant arts and cultural offering. The gallery supports the City of London Corporation’s growth strategy, Destination City, which seeks to make the Square Mile a place where people want to live, learn, work, and explore.

The City of London Corporation is one of the largest funders of heritage and cultural activities in the UK and invests over £130m every year.

The organisation manages a range of world-class cultural and heritage institutions, including the Barbican Centre, Tower Bridge, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Guildhall Library, Guildhall Art Gallery, The London Archives, and Keats House. It also supports the London Symphony Orchestra and London Museum, which will open this year.

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