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 cathy de monchaux
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.The seeds of war. Can war be beautiful? More importantly, should it be? Cathy De Monchaux’s long-awaited show at Fred Gallery – her first solo show in the UK for over five years – transforms war into something that walks between beauty and horror. The exhibition includes a number of relief sculpture pieces of Renaissance-like battles. The painted white sculptures of horses and soldiers are incredibly detailed, textured, obsessive.  Sweetly The Air Flew Overhead Battle no 5 (detail right). De Monchaux began making the works after America decided to invade Iraq. “On a political level there’s a complete insanity to the way the world is at the moment. Why are so many people pro-war?” she questions. “An 11-year-old can see it looks really stupid.” And the work was a response of this incredulity. The beauty was intentional. What can top the horror and realism of the photographs and film clips that clog up the media? “For me, news images cover things so well. I was looking at how to make a metaphor for talking about the war.” She explains, “I was thinking about Uccello, the Parthenon frieze, even cave paintings. Quite a human gut response to something.” The beauty is intended to draw you in, to make the little details of horror and shock more powerful. “Like voodoo dolls; when you’re close up it’s quite intense,” she observes.  Future is Passed (Mise en Scene Series) (both detail). Alongside the war pieces is a large installation on the wall, resembling three giant, overwhelming pubic mounds. In contrast to the tight, small war pieces, these female genitalia are massive. “They started off quite small and kept expanding. I wanted to make them look like they’d grown out of the wall. It’s almost the game to make each one look like a massive painting. You get close and realise there are lots of layers, but you can’t get to the bottom – like a thicket. There’s probably a robin in there…” All the work in the show is whiter than the flesh-pink and peach pieces that got De Monchaux nominated for the Turner Prize in 1998. “It’s a sort of denial. Underneath, the colour’s there. I didn’t want you to think about the materials anymore.” Instead we’re left with texture, image and a slight feeling of discomfort.
Francesca Gavin
Cathy De Monchaux is at Fred, London, until 01 July 07.
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