Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Bolwick Hall, Marsham, Norwich
12-26 June
Reviewed by: Stephanie Douet
You go in through oak-studded parkland, watched by brown cows, past the conservatory with its bowl of peonies and on through a low door in a garden wall. The lake lies beyond the lawns in front of you, and beyond that stand great trees through which you can glimpse Norfolk farmland. Everything, including the curator, is blooming or fruiting. You are aware of design as you progress around the landscape: generations of gardeners have produced a series of stage sets for social events. Imi Maufe takes this up with effective simplicity with Twelve reasons to drink champagne, signs planted around the grounds recording a shoot, a night-time picnic, which make the visitor imagine Brideshead-like scenes of frolicking gentry.
The rackets court is dilapidated and echoing, and suspended just above the floor some dead crows hover over a carpet of pine cones – it smells very bad and will get worse. Claire Morgan’s Things that fall down predicts winter and the passage of time, a landscape built of accumulation and decay. In the peeling white court the black crows and cones seem like an old photograph, celebrating the romance of decay.
Gair Dunlop and Tomoko Takahashi distance themselves from the picturesque: remarking on the pairing of isolated country houses and overhead flight of military aircraft, Dunlop has killed off grass in the silhouette of a Vulcan bomber on the great lawn. His reference to the terror of the Sublime is counterpoised by Takahashi, whose performances plunge with aplomb into the English countryside. Gamely striding through the fields in high heels and navy-blue suit, she befriends the cows and moves a mountain of manure.
That the participants always seem so pleased with their residencies reflects on the idyllic microcosm that Bolwick presents, seemingly remote from social and economic change.
Writer detail:
Stephanie Douet is an artist.
Venue detail:
Bolwick Arts
Bolwick Hall, Marsham, NORWICH NR10 5PU
No one has commented on this article yet, why not be the first?
To post a comment you need to login
Back to top