Marc Camille Chaimowicz

In contrast to the greyness of a predictably rainy day in Edinburgh, the latest show at Inverleith House offers a homely atmosphere, with an exhibition of artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz's installation works.

After the humid experience of walking through the Royal Botanic Gardens, in the heart of which the gallery is situated, curator Paul Nesbit – under the unequivocal instructions of the artist – assembled a series of interconnecting installations over the three-floor house-like gallery.

A minimalist dressing table onto which a packet of letters and an Yves Saint Laurent flask are posed, and bookcases featuring volumes of ‘Madame Bovary’ and ‘Sentimental Education’ are among the exhibits suggestive of an everyday life fantasy. Within this domestic context one finds gouaches by Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), as well as a painting, ‘La Chambre Rose’ of 1910, by his fellow painter Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940). The work is hung on one of the walls of the Georgian gallery as if just an element of the interior decor.

Rooms are an autobiographical representation of their inhabitants and Chaimowicz's show enlarges this narrative facet through installations such as 'Here and There' (1978-2009). Large board panels feature photographs of everyday and domestic details. They stand as fragmented vignettes stimulating the public to develop their own narrative about the house’s imaginary inhabitants.

The show successfully submerges the viewer in a theatrical, yet simultaneously familiar dimension, demonstrating the artist's rising position as a pioneer of installation art. The exhibition is entertaining and the environment homely; to the extent that one wouldn’t feel out of place getting out a thermos flask and sitting down to have a cup of tea.