Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
1 May – 17 July
Reviewed by: Fiona Candy
'Everything You Can Imagine Is Real' profiles artists who have recently completed the Arts Council England, North West Setting Up Scheme. Some works have been produced in response to the Harris' own collection and building, which provides additional context. Ruth Moilliet's steel and glass Spanish Moss climbs the air in the lofty central rotunda where its curling, playful tendrils are menacingly sharp. Her other piece Hydrangea – Purple, refers to the history and delicate craft of flower pressing, and also to the voluptuous strength of floral architecture.
Both Suzanne McCulloch and Jennifer Collier exploit the intense emotional affect of children's clothing. McCulloch's colourful felted umbrella dresses invoke a sense of naive spontaneity; Collier extends this by comparing the techniques of a modern maker with the painstaking near invisible stitches, delicate seams and miniature buttonholes of the Victorian seamstress.
A focus on forensic science stimulates a disturbing concern for the nakedness of a little girl, as a UV scanner reveals traces of her image on an otherwise blank canvas. Lorraine Berry's The Awakening uses fingerprint powder and digital photographs of an early twentieth century sculpture of the same name, placed nearby. The child's innocent pose seems now to induce one of the prevalent anxieties of modernity.
The virtual reality of 'haptics' underpins Iain Cant's wood and stone forms that appear to be captured in the moment of evolution. Hannah Murphy's monochrome ceramic pieces challenge preconceptions of uniformity and the slipcast object. Salina Somalya works primarily with metals and is influenced by the fluidity and transparency of eastern architecture. Lisa Howard's series of frank photographs of mortal faces encourages consideration of the many possibilities of life expectancy, age and fate.
The absence of an overt connecting theme means that the audience of this exhibition has to work hard when encountering each artist's work, but the imaginative and energised will experience a rewarding workout for both mind and senses.
Writer detail:
Fiona Candy is an artist and lecturer at University of Central Lancashire and lives and works in Preston.
Venue detail:
Harris Museum & Art Gallery
Market Square, Preston PR1 2PP
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