New Hunterian exhibition combines geology, biography and New York City
Ilana Halperin: Minerals of New York
13 July 2019 – 13 October 2019
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission free
Ilana Halperin is an artist who lives and works between Glasgow and the Isle of Bute. Her practice often explores the relationship between geology and everyday life. For example, Halperin shares her birthday with the Eldfell volcano in Iceland, and she returns once a decade to spend time with the volcano on significant occasions.
Her latest project takes her back to New York, her childhood home, through a 'mineral biography of the city' which takes shape across a range of media, including drawings, photographs, objects, and a 35mm slide show.
At the project's heart is a piece of garnetiferous gneiss, excavated from beneath the street which Halperin grew up on - a point of connection between her biography, that of the modern city, and the deep geological time that shaped it. This work was produced for a recent solo exhibition at Leeds Arts University, and will be seen for the first time in Scotland when it opens at The Hunterian.
Alongside her new project Minerals of New York, The Hunterian will exhibit a number of Halperin’s works from its own collection which relate to her ongoing interest in the Eldfell volcano.
Minerals of New York is at the Hunterian Art Gallery from 13 July - 13 October 2019. Open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm and Sunday 11.00am – 4.00pm. Admission is free.
Images
1. Pick & Hammer Club at marble outcrop on 207th Street off Broadway, 1942.
2. Ilana Halperin, The Subway Garnet, Graphite on Fabriano Paper, 2012.
All images courtesy of the artist and Patricia Fleming, Glasgow.
Private View
A private view will take place at the Hunterian Art Gallery on Friday 12 July from 5.30pm – 7.00pm.
For further information contact:
Dr Dominic Paterson, Curator (Contemporary Art), The Hunterian
For images contact:
Harriet Gaston, Communications Manager, The Hunterian
Notes to Editors
The Hunterian
The Hunterian is one of the world's leading University museums and one of Scotland’s greatest cultural assets. Built on Dr William Hunter’s founding bequest, The Hunterian collections include scientific instruments used by James Watt, Joseph Lister and Lord Kelvin; outstanding Roman artefacts from the Antonine Wall; major natural and life sciences holdings; Hunter’s own extensive anatomical teaching collection; one of the world’s greatest numismatic collections and impressive ethnographic objects from Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages.
The Hunterian is home to one of the most distinguished public art collections in Scotland and features the world’s largest permanent display of the work of James McNeill Whistler, the largest single holding of the work of Scottish artist, architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) and The Mackintosh House, the reassembled interiors from his Glasgow home.
The Hunterian has also developed an important collection of works by leading contemporary artists including Lucy Skaer, Ilana Halperin, Mat Collishaw, Mark Dion and Christine Borland.
glasgow.ac.uk/hunterian
First published: 11 June 2019