Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Kettle's Yard, Cambridge
21 June – 3 August
Reviewed by: Jane Evans
'Exodus' could be enjoyed purely as a fascinating series of original photographic prints chronicling the 1869 Ordnance Survey of the Sinai Peninsula by Sergeant James McDonald and a team of Royal Engineers who set out to record the route of the Exodus. The pictures are evocative, both of place and Victorian mores: the team poses on a carpet around the padre, who is dressed in 'native' costume. Salvo (cook) crouches behind while Eisa (servant) sits apart.
However, at Kettle's Yard the visitor knows this is not just an historical archive – the photographs are to be viewed as visual art, which is not difficult. They show a strong sense of dramatic composition and affinity for landscape, with time adding a remote stillness.
The contemporary works, chosen by the artists and curator to 'converse' with the archive photographs, are interposed among them. David Austen selected artists who he felt shared a 'poetic immediacy' with McDonald.
Ian Davenport's Dip painting echoes the desert's flatness and gives a sense of distance while the black, set against off-white tones, evokes photographic images. Helmut Federle's work summons up images of old photographic plates and blown-up negatives. Callum Innes' oil and shellac piece is redolent of water-damaged, sepia photographs. Vija Celmins' Night Sky 3 suggests chilly desert nights while the reversed images in Night Sky 1 and 2 give the impression of endless sand. John McCracken's sculptures echo the shapes of the photographed steles while their vivid, shiny modernity stands starkly against the muted images.
The photographs work wonderfully, both as an evocative archive and as pictorial images. Some of the modern juxtapositions work well, some appear slightly forced. I found myself wondering what would result if the artists had been asked to create work in direct response to the photographs.
Writer detail:
Jane Evans is a painter and author of books and articles on art.
Venue detail:
Kettle's Yard
Castle Street, Cambridge CB3 0AQ
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