Home
sign up| community / member's portfolio page |
 content by: member |
|
Working in this kind of environment must have an influence over the students who have christened the building, so I feel an air of optimism as I walk the short distance along the New Cross Road. I am undecided on my feelings towards the building itself, and decide that before I venture up its heights I shall visit the artists who have been working in the more traditional parts of the University. Goldsmith’s was one of the first Universities to offer a combined Fine Art and Art History course, and this has, in the past, produced a number of gems. Now located at the top of the Richard Hoggard building, again the quality of work proves to be on a par with the standard Fine Artists. Josephine Lyons installation covers five hundred square centimetres of floor space and is approximately two foot tall, it forms a maze with which the viewer can interact. Placed around the maze are headphones on which you can hear a series of interviews she has conducted with random people on the streets of London. The topic of conversation was one which first arose in the late 1980’s, AIDS. Some of the opinions she has uncovered are frankly worrying, with one person using the word ‘leper’, to describe victims of the disease. The piece is truly engaging, and commands your attention. In the middle of the same space sits a vast sculpture that is strikingly red. It reminds me of a giant liquorice allsort. On closer inspection it becomes apparent that Petra Polic has created her work from glaced cherries. Surrounding this piece is a variety of work from artists who have used brash and luminous colours. Jenny Hamblet’s detailed canvas ‘Conversation Piece (after Champollion)’ is a skilful painting and boldly reminiscent of Nigel Cooke. Opposite her four paintings sits the work of Alexa Galea, a complete contrast to Hamblet’s nuclear landscapes. Galea is all about Glam. Her paintings are extraordinarily fun, I particularly love the title ‘HollanDazed and Confused’, although I have a distinct feeling that I have seen this kind of work on the cover of many a dance music compilation. On the floor below are a number of video pieces. From the majority of these I gain and feel nothing. However one is uniquely entertaining. ‘Dance Partner’ by Edward Oliver is intoxicating and leaves me slightly nauseous, but is well crafted and accompanied by a great soundtrack. The first two floors of the new piece of architecture off Dixon Road have been reserved for the Textiles show, which is not on today's itinerary, so I first seek out the outbuildings which house the work of a number of Fine Art students. The first room I enter contains two white plaster sculptures by Deepa Craig. The first shows a woman screaming with her foot on the chest of a half naked male. The second is a small child with a feather protruding from its head. Both works have been finished to an above average quality, and sit remarkably well in the space. I was not overly impressed by the rest of the work in this area, however there is one annex off the main room that must be spoken about. The work here is presented under the title of ‘Sally Jones : A Retrospective’ and she has portrayed herself as a gallery representing her own work. A comment which is quite apt in today's art world. The work itself is extremely well thought out and emanates quality in its production, however the subject matter, herself, is unappealing. Her comment on the ‘noughties’ media, including her mailing a national magazine images of herself half naked, which were duly printed, is a very valid point. She is also unashamed to admit that the show is ‘An egotistical romp through the experiences of an extraordinary young woman’. Its just all a bit Emin. Adjacent to this location is another out building. It is here, that I find some of the best works in the show. The enclosed space created by Trevor Deebie is a marvel of 1920’s Tennessee. A model of a house occupies the centre of the enclosed space, whilst another of a Klu Klux Klan member tied to a cross observes it from the corner. The image conjures up every mournful syllable that Robert Johnson ever sung. On leaving Deebie’s space I am greeted by a lady looking out from the top of a tall yellow fort. This fort, the artist claims is irrelevant, its apparently all about the actress who is now vocally abusing me. The lady approaches me and asks ‘Why are you here. Why do you want to look at other people’s art? You should be out creating your own!’ I try my best to ignore the invasion on my privacy, which is obviously the point of this piece by Riccardo Ceccherini. I am now ready to visit the steel and glass structure I had gazed upon from the train. Walking through Goldsmith’s beautiful grounds, it is visible from every angle. The building has been a great source of controversy for the college. Original plans featured dogs, which weren’t approved, but the final result is anything but controversial. It appears as any office block around The City Of London does. Steel girders, glass windows, and a large pile of taglietelli stuck on the end. I should explain that the pasta is in fact a steel sculpture which sits in a cutaway portion above the forth floor and stretches above the sixth and final floor. It is on the sixth floor that I discover why the artists who have worked in this space have been able to create with such ease. The views across London are astounding. The stand out work in this space is a collection of video pieces by Adrian Tan. Four small screens surround the space, with one large projection on the end wall. The Televisions show interviews with a number of Singapore’s natives. They discuss major moments in the countries history. As Tan highlights, Singapore has taken the art of biography and the recording of history from its Western influences. His work is engaging and educational, a pleasure to view. Tan rounds up for me what has been a show dominated by the quality of the video and installation artists. The rest of this area has a number of interesting pieces, but nothing of any real merit. In fact I am disappointed because the work in this space will never be as good as the space itself. A Rembrant show could not even draw the viewers eyes away from the landscape of London Town. Its very hard to maintain a clear focus when so much work is being exhibited. That, however is the animal that is the degree show. Everything is close, every artist sits on another, and those who sit alone break the rhythm which the viewer must maintain to have an unbiassed opinion. From this large group there will be a number of success stories, and a number of failures. Some will change ambitions, some will stick to their guns. The beauty is the raw talent, still unmarked by the fickle world of art galleries and ‘trends’.
 conversations
Read members' comments.
|
 |
see also
books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. film  film archive The best of cinema in the UK from 2002 to 2008. |
send to a friend
more reviews by this member