\u2018The art world has a real issue with making things overly conceptual, too complicated and using wanky jargon,\u201d says Trackie McLeod. \u201cIt alienates people.\u201d So, for his latest show, Utopia, the 32-year-old Glaswegian has decided to create something more welcoming and familiar: a pub.<\/p>\n
Custom-built from scratch, the exhibition is a fully functioning boozer. McLeod will pull pints for punters, there\u2019s a dartboard where you can take aim at images of Thatcher or Trump, and visitors can explore his mixed-media artworks, spanning print, sculpture and sound, and swing by to catch drag acts, DJs and panel discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve even got a fruit machine that spits out chocolate coins,\u201d he says. \u201cWhich is a comment on how these machines rinse working-class pockets for their own gain. Whereas with this work, everyone\u2019s a winner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I grew up in pubs \u2013 weddings, birthdays, funerals, disputes\u2019 \u2026 Trackie McLeod. Photograph: @maxcgranger<\/p>\n
Utopia takes place at Factory International\u2019s Aviva Studios in Manchester<\/a>, and was commissioned by its Young Curators team. Touching on themes of nostalgia, class, identity and gentrification, it is also an ode to pubs and working men\u2019s clubs as vital community hubs.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up in places like this,\u201d McLeod says. \u201cAll our family occasions were there \u2013 weddings, birthdays, funerals. It\u2019s where all the disputes happened. Spaces that were cheap and cheerful but championed character and comfort. I\u2019m trying to bring back a sense of togetherness that we\u2019re lacking at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n McLeod \u2013 whose nickname, Trackie, is based on his propensity, when younger, for bringing out a fresh tracksuit to put on when a party ran into day two \u2013 is having a very busy run. After two successful exhibitions, Fruit (2024) and Fruit II (2025), he now also has Soft Play running at the Charleston in Lewes until mid-April, where he has recreated an outdoor play park in the exhibition space. It explores \u201cthe awkward transition from childhood into teenager\u201d, he says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re playing as an adult in these spaces \u2013 like drinking and vandalising \u2013 but are still really a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Exploring toxic masculinity \u2026 Nancy Boy 2024, by Trackie McLeod. Photograph: Courtesy the artist<\/p>\n McLeod struggled at school and didn\u2019t connect with the art curriculum and its focus on \u201cdead painters\u201d, but one day an ex-student came in to give a talk. \u201cHe looked like me and sounded like me,\u201d he recalls. \u201cHe spoke about Andy Warhol, Basquiat and Keith Haring. That was my introduction to art that wasn\u2019t just necessarily painting. A real turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n He still failed art: he is dyslexic and struggled with the essays. But he \u201caccidentally\u201d ended up at college studying design, and then at university, trying to find his groove. \u201cI\u2019ve been chipping away at this for a long time,\u201d he says. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been a linear path. There have been lots of ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time of Fruit \u2013 which featured a whole car painted in a Burberry check, and a dovecote installed in the gallery \u2013 he felt he had found his stride; blending Scottish patter, popular culture, graphic design, 00s nostalgia and explorations of class. \u201cIt all came together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n It also coincided with McLeod exploring his personal life in more depth. He had already been looking at toxic masculinity, and began to intersect it with his own experiences of growing up queer in Glasgow<\/a>. In one piece \u2013 funny and absurd, but also quietly powerful and moving \u2013 he framed a long list of things that were deemed gay in school, including using gel pens, reading and crossing your legs. \u201cIt was only putting it out like that that you realise: fucking hell, that was ridiculous,\u201d he says. \u201cThe things I would do to change myself to try and fit in at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018With this he found his stride\u2019 \u2026 McLeod\u2019s Burberry-clad car. Photograph: Courtesy the artist\/ Matthew Barnes<\/p>\n McLeod has stayed in Glasgow, avoiding the frenzy of London, which he feels is \u201coversaturated\u201d. He remains unrepresented by a gallery and happily part of a DIY scene. Despite his growing success, he has previously had to fund his own exhibitions to make them happen, sleeping on sofas at friends\u2019 houses. For all the talk of representation, diversity and inclusion in the arts, that hasn\u2019t been his experience as a working-class artist.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of these galleries say they are championing underrepresented voices and most of the time they don\u2019t,\u201d he says. \u201cThey don\u2019t practise what they preach. It\u2019s just rich folk with limited life experience, pumping money into rich folk with limited life experience. The art world feeds on nepotism, privilege and the bank of mummy and daddy. There\u2019s definitely a glass ceiling for working-class artists.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a slog for McLeod, but doing things on his own terms seems to be paying off and he now welcomes people to swing by Utopia for a pint and a chat. \u201cI don\u2019t have the answers, but I\u2019m living proof that you can mark out your own path and it is possible,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we need more working-class voices, more queer voices, and more POC voices, because it makes for more interesting art.\u201d<\/p>\n Trackie McLeod: Utopia is at Aviva Studios, Manchester<\/a>, 19-21 February. Soft Play is at Charleston, Lewes<\/a>, until 12 April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018The art world has a real issue with making things overly conceptual, too complicated and using wanky jargon,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-138965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}