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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Exhibition of paintings
Rebecca Cross
Verdict: Greeting cards from the edge
London - The Muse - 30 Jan – 6 Feb 05
Rebecca Cross uses greeting cards as iconic memorabilia of a childhood gone by (writes Samantha Darling). The compositions are painted reproductions of birthday and get-well cards covered with silicone. There’s a dark, almost sinister theme lurking beneath the surface.
Initially the paintings call to mind the ghoulish wallpaper with embossed gold leaf of - perhaps - a grandmother’s house, or a flimsy lamé birthday card kept from a third birthday. Then flashback memories hit the viewer like an invisible force – some happy, others painful and bewildering.
Run Rabbit Run (61 x 46cm) is a painted slice of wallpaper from a child’s room. The pale green background is eerie and almost unnerving under the soft spotlight. The smiles on the repeated rabbit faces add to the discomfort – evoking nightmares of waking up in the dark, convinced that the wallpaper has come to life.
The silicone encasing the surface of the paintings distorts their images – and reflects how memory becomes misinterpreted through time. It seems to drag the viewer into the picture, with the need to get close to see clearly through the coating – and be forced to confront the memory more intensely.
Valentine (50 x 40 cm) is a bold red statement of the commercial kitsch of Valentine’s Day. It beckons the spectator into its empty space at the back of the gallery to be embraced. It encourages an awkward smile, a laugh at the recollection of school discos, rejection, first loves and losses.
Home Sweet Home (160 x 60cm) is a canvas painted pink and green, with a small sparrow-like bird nestling in the right hand corner. It’s a bird seen a million times before - on snowy Christmas cards, or as the small toy a mother might use to decorate an Easter cake. The eye is directed to small patterns on the left hand side of the picture, almost hidden beneath the dense silicone covering. At a closer look they emerge as Spirograph whirls – evoking a flashback to the classroom.
This is the first solo show by Rebecca Cross since her graduation from the University of East London. It’s a very personal exhibition, communally shared, that works powerfully on the subconcious. With the recollections it conjures up – many long forgotten - smells and feelings from the past are stirred up into the mind. Haunting and homely, it suggests memories both fond and disturbing.
Credits: Artist - Rebecca Cross. Arts Consultant - Alana Pryce. Gallery Director - Damian Rayne.
END
(c) Samantha Darling 2005
reviewed Saturday 29 January 05 / The Muse
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
