Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
13 February – 28 March
Reviewed by: Jo Manby
The idea of the signage being more on the move than the film's protagonist is a telling point in Mark Leckey's single-screen projection, Parade. Starring the artist, the neon promenades past the models rather than the other way round. As Leckey says, "It's about feeling lost at the beginning of the twenty-first century."
The foppish/transvestite dandy's hair is lit contre-jour in an electric halo, as he gazes up at (or looks down from) cinematic blow-ups displaying gorgeous faces reminiscent of Lauren Hill or 'old skool' Missy Elliott. The impression of a man looking long and hard at the way women do their makeup and a 'wish I was her' subtext to a 'look at that bitch' response is confirmed a few minutes later when the Versace-clad libertine is shown cosmetically perfected by a beautician's magic wand into a painted animatron, beautiful as any girl.
After a passage of churchy music, organs glide past, grey as phantoms. A fag lights a cigarette, the glowing butt at least as glamorous as the preceding soul queens and the ebonite divas – all red and gilded and on fire – and you can't help but feel the solitude permeating glamour. The cigarette may make him feel more in control, but it's mere paper and burning leaves. The mood of the film, similarly, is autumnal; things beginning to fade, losing their effect; veneer falling off, gilding rubbed bare. Mark Leckey says it's a reference to the emptiness of life. "There's something missing from everyone's life. People try and fill the gaps with images."
The protagonist-flâneur comes and goes with the soundtrack – and one imagines this is something of a habit with him, like the possible distant references: Jaques Tati, a Prince album. "That's what it's about, that film – I'm just sick of images."
Writer detail:
Jo Manby, artist, curator, writer.
Venue detail:
Castlefield Gallery
2 Hewitt Street, Knott Mill, Manchester M15 4GB
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