A Series of connections linking content and form.
Looking down on the exhibition there is a suggestion of a communal space with small groups of individuals engrossed in each other.
The sculptures are biomorphic in their shape and formed with cheap everyday materials. The quality of the surfaces are rough and raw, not polished.
It is the connections they make, not their individual refinement, that is relevant here.
A minimal colour palate of white and brown has mostly been used apart from two groups, one a small troop of brightly coloured figures marching haphazardly into the space and another small group lying on the floor.
The work has evolved through an exploration of material processes and self reflection. Theatre has a central role with the characters behaving both as spectators and performers. Things are at play here but the plot isn’t always clear. We have talking heads, group chats, disconnection and humour, all manner of mixed messages that separate and connect them at the same time.
There is also the sound recording “no, no, no…” that speaks out loud, an internal rambling of self -doubt reminiscent of Julian Jaynes ideas of bi-chameralism where one side of the brain speaks and the other listens, only in this case both sides are speaking.
So this piece, with its slight nod to the past, in the formal presentation of sculpture and a leaning to the present, with the distancing and disconnect of the digital world doesn’t give a clear indication of its setting and placement but rather presents small moments of interaction and sociality.
Shirley Sharp
27.5.18.