Magne F: Alpha Beta

Magne F showcases the latest works from A-HA keyboardist and songwriter Magne Furuholmen, who has maintained a career as a visual artist in tandem with his life as a musician. The first print is an exclamation mark with the quote "and so we lost the game we designed together". This sets the theme for the exhibition: it’s handsome, simple and occupies your mind for a brief spell.

In the main rooms the letters of the English alphabet, and the Nordic æ,ø and å, are wrapped around the walls in a single strip, progressing alphabetically from left to right. Whilst it may seem quite a small space it is apt for Magne F’s work, which if exhibited anywhere larger could be easily swamped. A good balance is struck between the naivety and clumsiness of the letter forms and the sophistication of the background marks and tones.

On select prints, lightly speculative lyrics can be read, sometimes clearly but often obstructed by the letter forms; it's a simple formula, but a pleasing one. Furuholmen expertly handles background abstraction so that it is sometimes antagonistic, and occasionally engulfing, to the letter forms; ‘I’ for instance, becomes a night time sky punctured by a Kubrickian monolith under this treatment.

Unfortunately ‘Z’ and a few others are disappointing, and act as prime examples of why his lyrics should have featured more prominently in the works; his mark making is not consistently strong enough to counter the crude letters, but his lyrics are.

A final aspect of the exhibition, which Furuholmen cannot really take credit for, is the window onto the busy print workshop below. As it must do with all shows at Edinburgh Printmakers, seeing artists at work really increases the bond you feel through the prints, with the artist. This is not a groundbreaking show and will leave hardened contemporary art viewers unfulfilled, but if you are feeling quiet and contemplative then you may enjoy it.