Exhibitions celebrating the centenary of Ian Hamilton Finlay feature in The Times Scotland

'Kirstie Meehan, who has curated the show in Edinburgh, says Finlay himself rejected attempts to be categorised. “I think it’s an asset for an artist to refuse to be labelled in that way,” she says. “You can see that throughout his career. He starts as a poet, goes into concrete poetry, moves into sculpture, moves into publications, then into gardening. There’s a sort of freedom there, which I think most artists don’t have.”

Another explanation, however, lies in the way Finlay saw himself as a disruptor, someone who challenged the establishment and picked quarrels with it, whenever he felt its power was being misused.'

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Ian Hamilton Finlay is at Modern Two, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, from 8 March–26 May 2025. 

Ian Hamilton Finlay: Fragments takes place in May 2025 at: Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh; Kewenig Gallery, Palma de Mallorca; Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia; Victoria Miro, London; David Nolan Gallery, New York; Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg; Stampa Galerie, Basel; Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna.

Image: Ian Hamilton Finlay (with John Andrew), Et in Arcadia Ego, 1976

© The estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay / © Estate of John Andrew