The Ian Hamilton Finlay exhibition was divided into six rooms, showing collaborative works made for the show and recently completed pieces.
The six rooms were: the Neo-classical room, the Neon room, the Midway room, the Embroideries room, the Outdoor room, and the Information/Print room. The Neon room was a darkened space containing neon wordplays, while the Midway room presented Finlay’s tableau Battle of Midway (1976-7), produced in collaboration with James Stoddart and James Boyd, in which Japanese and U.S. aircraft carriers were depicted as beehives, and fighter planes as swarming bees.
The Outdoor room displayed a collection of garden-furniture, from benches and sundials to watering-cans and paving stones, characteristic of the ‘pastoral’ element in Finlay’s work. An area of the room was screened off to show Dave Paterson’s slide sequence of Finlay’s garden at Stonypath.
The works on display were collaborative works made for the show, or recently completed pieces.
