The Common Guild

Have to admit, it's slightly intimidating ringing the doorbell of this place.

But hey, life's too short to be shy...

A friendly girl answers the door, "Hi, please come in - are you a neighbour?

"Well, just down the hill", I offer.

"Oh great, Kitty's in the library, just go straight through and have a glass of wine." (Result!).

Turns out the gallery have invited their neighbours in the street for drinks and a tour tonight.

Winning the Turner prize clearly has advantages, Douglas Gordon's Glasgow home is a generous Victorian town house on Park Circus. However all he keeps to himself is the top floor, the rest is turned over to The Common Guild, an exhibition space which hosts local and international artists.

'Chaplet' (2007).

Up to the first floor and what looks like barbed wire is revealed to be a sequence of fingerprints on the mirror. The literature suggests that it references the invisible barriers within contemporary society which risk destroying the possibility of individual freedom...

'Diamond Corn' (2005)

'Ciel Variable' (Changing Skies) is written on the ceiling with a burning candle.

Today and Tomorrow (Saturday 23rd) from 12-5pm are the last days of this current exhibition.

This room on the ground floor is primarily an art resource library, and weirdly, each book Douglas ever buys for himself also gets a place here. Way above all the weightier stuff I spied some Iain Rankin, Practical Homeopathy and a Rough Guide to Paris!

The contents might look nothing out of the ordinary but one private collector thinks enough of this library to maintain a continually updated replica of the entire collection.

What's incredible is that the library, like the gallery, is for the people and anyone can come and make use of it. There's also a fine collection of art periodicals which can be hard to track down and pricey when you do.

Fortune favours the bold...

The Common Guild