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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
BLOC
Verdict: Bowie's new artists
London - County Hall - 10 March - 22 May 05
Art Exhibition - Fri-Mon (ie weekends) 10-6 - Free
Bloc is an exhibition from David Bowie's Bowieart of 16 up-and-coming British artists (writes Lara Apponyi). They include (alpha order): Eleonora Aguiari, Ruth Barker, Erica Eyres, Doug Fishbone, Mathieu Gallois, Anthony Gross, Colin Guillemet, Simon Keenleyside, Catherine Morland, Raul Ortega Ayala, Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir, Matt Stevenson, Ben Sadler, Naglaa Walker, Lynette Yiadom- Boakye, Neil Zakiewicz.
After wandering back and forth amongst the heaving South Bank crowds - trying to find the gallery entrance - the only way in becomes apparent. Push past the Dali queue and over-populated ticket-office. Head purposefully towards the second, less obvious, opening.
Inside, silence and space are welcome relief – a wide corridor lit by a soft glow.
Anthony Gross shows three males wearing sunglasses, listening to headphones.
Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir’s 'Stop singing, your victim is making me drool on my favourite soul-mate' (2005) is an installation of 46 drawings and a video-animation. It has an instant brilliance - startling creativity meets the grotesque and uncanny. She works on paper of varying sizes and executes in a range of pencil, pen, ink and acrylic paint.
This way of working is inexhaustible: never-ending possibilities evolve from the simple surface. Characters and creatures constantly unfold, spill, and metamorphose into new forms or fluids. Rebirth and new associations are created as well as narrative suggestions. A blind dog with weeping eyes leads a sexless, headless being wearing gloves and black boots. Opposite, a baby in red stilettos stands with his hand between his legs - while fisting a white, fluffy substance into his mouth.
Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir engages on a small scale as well as in larger format. Her work has echoes of Henry Darger’s Vivian Girls series, and the otherworldliness of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. All three artists share a talent for mixing slick comedy with disenchantment.
Catherine Morland shows English landscape scenes painted in smoke on glass - the image is projected onto a wall. Treasure Island (2005, 90 x 100 cm) is lit by a nostalgic orange glow – the rose-tinting suggests reminiscence. Light rotates around the composition meditatively, gradually revealing the island.
Poolside at Villa Volkonski (2005, 90 x 120 cm) conjures thoughts of hazy summer days and languorous nights. In contrast, the light is stark white. It dips in and out of frame through the smoke-made details. The light floats and glides like a bather through the water of the pool.
Simon Keenleyside works in oil on canvas. Washes of thinned paint and glazes form the background, onto which trees with needle-like branches are aggressively added. Thick impasto woody clumps gather in small areas and dribbles of toxic colour create an acidic landscape- dangerous territory.
Peter Doig and Daniel Richter seem to be influences, not only for colour and subject, but naming too. Peter Doig made a set of paintings based on film-stills from Friday the 13th - calling one after the film. Simon Keenleyside’s Three Hours from Sundown (Oil on canvas, 168 x 196 cm) takes its title from the first line of Nick Drake’s song. Referencing pop-culture directly can be an effective short-cut for the audience to the artist’s intended train of thought.
There’s a poignant piece by Doug Fishbone. The Land of Israel lies in the centre of the exhibition corridor’s final stretch. A metal sandpit contains 300 kilos of sand imported from Israel, with a portion from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The viewer is invited to enter the installation, and walk in and over the sand. Doug Fishbone’s contribution to Bloc acts as a final pause - contemplation cannot be avoided. It’s not particularly original, but simple and successful. The soft warmth of the sand provokes the imagination – prints by fellow travellers can evoke ‘those feet in ancient times’. The Land of Israel is a powerful comparison of the substance of sand and the history it holds.
Credits: Artists: (alpha order): Eleonora Aguiari, Ruth Barker, Erica Eyres, Doug Fishbone, Mathieu Gallois, Anthony Gross, Colin Guillemet, Simon Keenleyside, Catherine Morland, Raul Ortega Ayala, Sigga Bjorg Sigurdardottir, Matt Stevenson, Ben Sadler, Naglaa Walker, Lynette Yiadom- Boakye, Neil Zakiewicz. Exhibition: Bowieart and County Hall Gallery in association with Bloc Media. Beth Greenacre - Director, Bowieart. Andrea Pedroni - Managing Director, County Hall Gallery. Rick Palmer - Managing Director, Bloc Media. Support from: Arts Council England, Lottery Funded; London Underground's Platform Art; ADi Audiovisual; Absolute Action; Express Foam Ltd. Press: Ed Greenacre, Bowieart; Nnenna Oleforo, County Hall Gallery; Rick Palmer, Bloc Media; Tamsin Dillon, London Underground.
END
(c) Lara Apponyi 2005
reviewed Good Friday 25 March 05 / County Hall Gallery
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
