ARTISTS TALKING

f a projects, London

1 November – 14 December

James Ireland's sculptural assemblages transform heavy DIY fixtures and fittings into a wealth of delicate landscape illusions. In All my dreams, sunset images are stuck to the gallery wall with masking tape, providing the backdrop for a dreamscape diorama. A fluorescent strip becomes the source of the sun's gentle evening rays, throwing light onto the scene through a gap behind a shelf upon which a mirror rests. The sky and its reflection in the mirror-sea becomes a mass of orange and pink clouds.

Displayed at a variety of levels, directly on the floor or fixed slightly too high up the wall, these compact works encourage the viewer to examine them from every possible angle and simultaneously draw our attention to the architecture of the white space around them. In Nothing but the thought of you, a low, folded-leaf table replaces the shelf. Standing above the tabletop, the mirror reflects the gallery's high, church-like ceiling. Crouching down we find the lower portion of the work's seascape vista hidden behind the table; in truth a less than serene desert scene.

Two freestanding sculptures demonstrate a new departure for Ireland. In one, a small wooden chair has been sliced in half and stuck back together again; the effect of this drastic operation has left its legs jutting out at awkward angles. From the denuded raw wood you can see that its edges have been bevelled, exposing something of Ireland's intended artistry too. Lying there the chair takes on the characteristics of an injured animal struggling to get back on all fours, the action frozen in an instant.

Behind the works' overt humour and playfulness, titles hint at an underlying melancholy, perhaps to a sense of longing, even isolation. Each work acts as a set-scenario; a scene that the viewer is urged to explore from every physical and emotional viewpoint.

Louise Coysh

LOUISE COYSH
is based in London.