Monday 30 June 2008

GOODS In

GOODS In was a success, hard work but I loved it!

There is also potential for Minda and I to use it again so watch this space and then come visit that space...

These are some pics of the show from the front and back of the space.




The two most popular pieces from feedback so far were the balancing ladders by Matt Roberts and the performance/interaction based on a platic fantastic (sp) piece by a.a.s.




now....onto the next one :)

lots of love,
a very tired your conscience

Thursday 26 June 2008

Saturday 14 June 2008

to the warehouse, with lots of love

dear smart warehouse,
how i love thee...
...all clean and almost dust free...
...minda's magic wall hiding all your sins.....

...sigh....

i cant wait till the 28th!!!

Friday 16 May 2008

theres a bird in a clock and its popping out to say....

cuckoo....cuckoo....

I have so much going on at the mo its awesome! today is the deadline for an open submission put out by minda and i for a warehouse space in moseley and I am pleased to say we have had some very good proposals, I am therefore uber excited!

next week is the install and opening of cuckoo and fringe art bath, really pleased with how its all going at the mo, frames look great and Caitlin and I are hoping the weather stays nice for our working break in Bath.

lots of love,
your conscience

Sunday 27 April 2008

to Bath, in the sun

Sunday I went to Bath where Caitlin and I checked out the gallery space that I will be curating Miss Griffith's first solo show "Cuckoo" as part of Fringe Art Bath...

The day was hot and sunny, I bought fudge and cookies, Bath is a beautiful city and the space is perfect!

All in all, a very good day!

lots of love,
your conscience

Sunday 20 April 2008

Regards to Ruth

I have written a review of Ruth Claxton's current show at Ikon, Birmingham, as requested by Matt Roberts for artartart  magazine.  Have a read and let me know what you think...

Ruth Claxton ‘Land’s End’

Ikon Gallery, Birmingham

2nd April – 18th May 2008

The kitsch space ship has landed at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, where the first museum exhibition by local artist Ruth Claxton is currently on display.  ‘ Land’s End ’ is a complex installation of steel hoops that move organically through the upper floor galleries.  These grey rings hold somewhat juxtaposed candy coloured plates or mirrors while others remain empty and hollow.  The uncertainty of surfaces, whether real or fake confuses the viewer as they navigate themselves through the towers of spirals and curved edges, difficult to begin with as the first gallery leaves little room for manoeuvre as the immense sculptures dominate the space.  A carefully placed mirror adds to the depth and magnitude of the floor to ceiling objects.  As you move through the galleries the disc structures dissipate and dissolve into floors and walls.  The further through the galleries I went the more I enjoyed the work, the spaces between them allowed me to explore the structures and adornments, which I will mention more of in a moment, and I could enjoy what I was looking at.  In particular the fungi like shapes that exit the walls up high, that melt into the vast white expanse that surrounds them; the moments before they melt and disappear through the floor where you can only see the peak of the mountains that possibly once were.


The adornments I mention previously are another fascinating and softer side to the metallic hoop constructions.  Porcelain figurines usually found upon your Nan ’s mantelpiece sit shyly and small upon their huge display stands.  Found at car-boot sales they apparently lack the nostalgic elements and sentimentality usually associated to these ceramic birds and figures.  This is not for me the element that alters my pre-conceived notions of such objects; rather it is what Claxton does to these figures that make them alien and vaguely unrecognisable.  Through detaching heads and replacing them with jewellery, modeling clay and sequins for example, or string linked from one figures eyes to another they become something else, something more sinister.  There is something grotesque about these figures, something reminiscent of a child pulling the head off her dolly or something about the gaze; about the figures not being able to look at each other due to their genetic modifications, or the secrets they are not allowed to tell.  These porcelain pieces for me add an edge of feminist concepts against the hardened, unemotional metal woodlands that engulf them.


What I find difficult about this exhibition are its links to the internet and technological landscapes.  This connection seems to lure towards buzzwords and key contemporary ideas whereas I did not think they were clear in any aspect of ‘ Land’s End.’  The female gaze, nods to kitsch/retro ideals, construction of landscapes and an awareness of curatorial techniques were all there, however non are mentioned in the accompanying text.  Rather it concentrates upon computer technology and an on-line community called ‘Second Life’ that “provides its users anonymity alongside a platform to participate in a real, financially-driven economy.”  This thin association of the internet is not reflected within Claxton’s work, the expanse of the installation echoes something more organic.  Even through the metallic grey structures there lies an element of nature rather than the clinically thought connection with technology.  The text therefore, for me, is misleading and detracts from the fragility of the sculptures.  It is only through ‘blinding’ her figurines that she hints at the passive nature of the current technological consumer who is always dislocated from the fake realities found within our computers.


Overall, however, Claxton has presented a lively and initially provocative show.  The steel constructions are attractive and you have the want to explore them, especially in the first room, like a jungle explorer, and as less and less fills the space as you continue you are allowed to engage with the objects, rather than the stands, and you begin to bring your own interpretations to the ceramic models and their locations and amputations. Although the show seems to have a certain ‘one trick pony’ element about it I found it an enjoyable show and a great use of the gallery space.