Trackie McLeod

FRUIT II

★★☆☆☆

On until 11 June 2025

If, contra received wisdom, nostalgia is still what it once was, its aesthetics today is pure cliché. Glasgow lad Trackie mixes Trainspotting, raves, and Louis Vuitton knockoffs as though they were currency in 2025’s Britain. He turns personalised reg plates, lads’ mags headlines, and the Burberry check into icons of a culture he is too young to remember. A mass billboard “partnership” blew up these charity shop trinkets. It duped McLeod into believing that a return to DVDs was, for him, imaginable.

What excuse for this naivety? “Working-class” and “queer” appear in the collateral as obligatory for every insider. What doesn’t is “white”. Yet this alone is McLeod’s distinction in the Yookay Aesthetics index. His longing for ‘90s homophobia is pale fire next to the IrnBru output of fellow Pollokshields dweller and Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur. Look closely, however: her multipacks bear the mark “for export”.


notes and notices are short and curt exhibition reviews. Read more:

Thibault Aedy, Dilara Koz at Filet ★★★☆☆

Thibault Aedy, Dilara Koz

Caressed and Polished and Drained and Washed

★★★☆☆

These ideas can’t last beyond the pop-up show’s closing date.

Talar Aghabshian, Solace of the Afterimage at Marfa’ at The Approach ★★☆☆☆

Talar Aghbashian

Solace of the Afterimage

★★☆☆☆

The carpet dealer gallerist’s zeal reveals the work’s lamentable inadequacy. 

Alexandre Canonico, Still at Ab Anbar ★★★☆☆

Alexandre Canonico

Still

★★★☆☆

Conanico’s slight structures look like they could take flight at any moment.

Alex Katz, Spring at Timothy Taylor ★★☆☆☆

Alex Katz

Spring

★★☆☆☆

The emperor’s clothes have moth holes.

Nick Relph, Fils, ta vision! at Herald St ★☆☆☆☆

Nick Relph

Fils, ta vision!

★☆☆☆☆

There’s little for the eye to hang on and none of the punk culture of Relph’s earlier practice emerges from the works.

Ebun Sodipo, An Ominous Presence at Soft Opening ★★☆☆☆

Ebun Sodipo

An Ominous Presence

★★☆☆☆

Look, and it’s all on the surface.

×