SUSAN DARLINGTON appreciates a retelling of the Merlin myth that emphasises family and belonging
China syndrome
CONRAD LANDIN surveys two shows in Edinburgh which grapple with shame, repression and defiance
Lindsey Mendick: I Tried So Hard To Be Good; SH*TFACED installation view
[John Mackenzie] 
JAN WOOLF is beguiled by the tempting notion that Freud psychoanalysed Hitler in a comedy that explores the vulnerability of a damaged individual
TONY BURKE reviews new releases from Cheikh Lo, Mishra & Deepa Shakthi, N’Faly Kouyate
Gin Lane by William Hogarth is a critique of 18th-century London’s growing funeral trade, posits DAN O’BRIEN
ANDY HEDGECOCK sees his scepticism lessened by a story is more complex and far-reaching than is initially apparent
MARK TURNER holds on tight for a mesmerising display of Neath-born ragtime virtuosity
Exhibition review Lindsey Mendick: SH*TFACED; Grayson Perry: Smash Hits
Jupiter Artland; National Galleries of Scotland: Royal Academy
IT’S not every art exhibition that begins with a heath warning. But with Lindsey Mendick’s new “confessional show,” the clue is in the name. A rather stylish plaque tells us that the venue “condones a sensible approach to the use of alcohol,” warning that the “scenes of binge drinking” depicted in SH*TFACED could be “challenging.”
This is one of several shows at this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival which grapple with shame, repression and defiance.
Mendick’s exhibition spans across three spaces within Jupiter Artland, a private sculpture park and contemporary art gallery on the estate of a Jacobean country house in Kirknewton, West Lothian. Its first rooms take the form of a nightclub and adjoining toilets. Distorted chequered walls and a soundtrack of club sounds disorientate us before we are confronted with an expansive and intricate scale model of the club we believe we are already within.
More from this author
CONRAD LANDIN offers a guide to the diverse shows at Edinburgh Art Festival
