September 5, 2026 – October 4, 2026
SLANG is curated by Glasgow-based painter, Maggie Hills. The exhibition presents artworks by Scottish artists alongside works by artists from the wider UK, mainland Europe and the USA.
There will be a curator walk-through of SLANG with Maggie Hills on Saturday the 3rd of October at 2pm.
SLANG brings together a group of 18 artists who use ambiguous, fragmented or decontextualised imagery and/or text to attempt to understand their place within society and culture. Everyday life, personal identity, pop culture and the tropes and structures of the art world are among the themes mined and undermined.
Slang in speech is developed within communities and subcultures. Generally frowned upon, it doesn’t fit within formal linguistic structures and devices; it’s often oblique and irreverent… not quite ‘proper’. Slang is also a more expressive way to communicate than formal speech. Language is played with, idioms devised, and new meanings invented for existing words. And because anyone can make up and use slang, it’s an agile linguistic medium for conveying personal meaning and emotion. Constantly changing, it adapts to reflect identity and belonging within a particular place and time.
As slang invites creativity and playfulness in communication by mussing up spoken language, the artists in the exhibition use established materials and techniques (including oil painting, collage, found objects, clay modelling, wood carving and printed media) to offer ambiguous visual dialogues or commentary. Some of the work is spontaneous, gestural and messy; other work is meticulously detailed and finely finished. What it shares is a sense that it reflects a personal voice developed by its maker, with text, symbols, motifs, metaphors or marks used to imply meaning.
But whereas slang in speech is used to ensure that only a few others understand it, these artists invite us to join their conversation. This conversation is sometimes provocative and irreverent, sometimes humorous (sharing a private joke with a nod and a wink), and sometimes it’s something akin to a gentle nudge, reminding us of a shared memory or experience.
Romanian poet Paul Celan likened creating poetry to throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean – a desperate but hopeful act that someone with a receptive heart might discover it and respond. The artists in the exhibition throw out coded visual messages, hoping we, the audience, will connect. ‘What’s it all about?’ they ask (their casual tone and sideways messaging masking sincerity (and sometimes vulnerability).
Slow looking encourages deeper engagement. By taking the time to decode the artworks in SLANG, we might discover something about society or culture – or even ourselves.
