In a celebratory programme of visual art that marks 50 years of Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket, Glasgow-based artist Martin Boyce will transform the gallery with his sculptural installations inspired by textures and forms of the built environment. He last presented work here in 1999 as one of the participating artists in Visions For The Future, a landmark showcase of early-career Scottish artists. Since then, Boyce has gone on to represent Scotland at the 2002 Venice Biennale and won the 2011 Turner Prize. 

Before Behind Between Above Below has the artist forming atmospheric landscapes which merge interior and exterior spaces, all the while referencing lasting legacies of 20th-century modernist design. Incorporating works made between 1992 and the present day, Boyce stages unique environments for each room of the gallery, accentuating its striking architecture and remarkable structural history. Upstairs, Boyce amalgamates sculptures from recent years ‘to create a new landscape’ that resembles a ‘bourgeois apartment.’

In the downstairs warehouse, he toys with the idea of readying artwork for public display by granting us access to a part of the artistic process that usually remains behind closed doors. Elsewhere, a homage to the designers who profoundly influence Boyce can be found; namely, twins Jan and Joël Martel, who are most famous for their series of concrete cubist ‘trees’ from 1925. 

Boyce finds inspiration in every corner of his everyday life: from photographs of architecture taken on his travels ‘to a broken piece of fence on a walk to the studio.’ Full of eclectic references, this solo show promises an opportunity to discern the evolution of the artist’s practice as he moves toward a potential of sculpture to create ‘a dream-like place.’ 

Martin Boyce: Before Behind Between Above Below, Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, Saturday 2 March–Sunday 9 June.