I thought I was being fanciful when I thought I detected the faint trace of tobacco in the top floor of The Pipe Factory, in which Sabe Lewellyn's first solo exhibition is currently taking place. The distinctive brick building, next to the entrance to the Barras market on Bain Street, Glasgow, was once a clay pipe factory, dating back to 1877. Today, it plays host art exhibitions, workshops and residencies.
It's only when I am leaving his exhibition that Lewellyn, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art's MFA programme, tells me he has created an "aroma piece" for the space. It is emitting faint traces of dried tobacco out into the ether of the exhibition.
It's a delightful and delicate touch which sets the seal on a delightful and delicately nuanced installation.
Walking into the space the exhibition occupies on the top floor of The Pipe Factory, the first thing your eye falls on is a neon sign, positioned almost altar-like at the far end of the space. Have you looked outside? It's beautiful! it declares. And do you know something, with the harsh mid-March light falling as stripes shadows from either side of atelier-style windows, it is! Underneath the neon, there's a shelf containing envelopes full wildflower seeds which visitors are encouraged to take home and plant to help encourage birds, bees and butterflies to set up home nearby.
Bells are a recurring theme in Lewellyn's work. He has positioned ten bells of varying sizes around this space. These include; a cowbell, a bell from a First World War artillery gun and one stamped with the initials GWR (Great Western Railways). Inside each, there's a battery, which together with the innate movement of the building, sees the bell vibrate constantly.
The sounds a bell makes as it vibrates is known as decay. In this post-industrial setting, with its scuffed wooden floor and exposed beams, the stark simplicity of Lewellyn's neon sign and the elegant curved beauty of the vibrating bells make for perfectly balanced visual harmony.
Sabe Lewlellyn: How Curious! How real! The Pipe Factory, 42 Bain Street, Glasgow G40 2LA.
www.thepipefactory.co.uk. Open Sat & Sun 12pm-5m and Mon-Fri by appointment until 1 April. Free
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