Chris Drury - Land, Water and Language

A man, his boat and some nice scenery
Life’s a journey not a destination and other such homilies. God preserve us from the travelogue artists. Chris Drury is one such artist. This exhibition, which was initially created for Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre in North Uist, takes its lead from a two day canoe journey Drury made with a colleague in September 2009, from the top of the Eaval along the west coast to Lochmaddy. The artistic result of which steers the stream from ingenious to tedious.
‘Land and Language I’ and ‘II’ are views from the north and south of the Eaval respectively with a twist – the images are made up of the names and the lochs and hills that are visible from the viewpoint. It’s gimmicky but pretty impressive.
In the middle of the room is the 14ft vessel (with hefty price tag) that Drury made the journey in all its primitive skin and Canadian wood glory. There’s also the paddle, a dull satellite picture of the area the artist covered and some indecipherable peat on paper work about some micro-organism that lives in peat bogs. Which leaves the quietly impressive ‘Land and Water’, a photogauvre in five parts from the view looking north of the Eaval with some nice annotation to the stunning vista. At best Drury leaves you wanting more.
Dovecot, 550 3660, until 4 Sep, free.