CRITIC’S CHOICE

DAVID Mach’s huge Big Heids sculpture, by the side of the M8 at Holytown, Lanarkshire, must be one of the best viewed artworks in Scotland.

But the Fife-born artist, who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1988, is not one to be pigeon-holed into working in just one medium. Mach works across a host of media, including – most recently – music and writing.

Mach, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, a Royal Academician and now Professor of Inspiration and Discovery at Dundee University, is one of the UK’s most successful and prolific artists. He has long held a fascination with collage and for Heaven & Hell, which opens at the RGI Kelly Gallery in Glasgow today, he showcases 11 large scale collages.

Each one depicts various scenes from Mach’s idea of heaven and hell and to illustrate this, he features various landmarks across the world. Glasgow features heavily and locations he has transposed into a heavenly/ hellish setting include; The Riverside Museum and The Glasgow Science Centre.

Hell Paris, above, shows the burning lower reaches of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Suffice to say, this disturbing montage isn’t the Insta-friendly view you will see on a social media platform near you.

Saturated colour and smiling faces in all these artworks conceal a dark underbelly which leads this viewer at any rate to conclude that we are all heading to the fiery place in a handcart.

Heaven & Hell: David Mach RA, RGI Kelly Gallery, 118 Douglas Street, Glasgow G2 4ET, 0141 258 1080, https://www. theroyalglasgowinstituteofthefinearts. co.uk/, Tuesday - Saturday 10-5pm, until October 16. Free