Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
3-24 November
Reviewed by: Richard Brammer
“I find myself looking blankly at a polished teapot: the elongated reflection of my face suggests a horse. In the polished teapot the universe is contained, and all the thoughts and pictures that ever were can be poured out of it”
(First Review of ‘Ulysses’, The Observer, 5 March 1922)
The passage above was written by the extravagantly named Sisley Huddleston in an attempt to describe the shocking nature of James Joyce’s classic novel. Much of the controversy surrounded the form that the novel took and the confusion engendered by its kaleidoscopic approach to one day in Dublin. A similar disorientation is felt whilst strolling around a new exhibition entitled ‘Parallax View’ at the Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent. ‘Parallax’ is the term reserved for the difference in the appearance of an object caused by a shift in the observer, whether that be a physical shift in position or a different way of looking (through a camera, a pair of glasses or even a particular ideology).
Curator Tom Godfrey infuses this concept throughout, both in the selection of artists and also in the liberal way that he has chosen to combine found everyday ephemera alongside the actual pieces. Found audiotapes and nameless Internet images create a curious double-take effect when mingling with the other works on show. The shape of the collaboration run jointly between Airspace and Godfrey’s Nottingham space Moot only further reinforces the theme. This is a view of contemporary art from the vantage points of both the East and West Midlands.
The parallax was always going to be meat and drink to the nine artists involved and all take to it readily, examining the issue from.. well, all angles. To mention but a few of the ways in which they do this we can start with Mozal and Joaquim’s cement mixer and weather balloon assemblage. The sheer size of this piece creates a need to walk around it in order to witness its many abstract views, a need to position oneself differently in order to relate to it. More surreptitiously, Joe Wong’s playing cards give either a good or bad hand depending upon the perspective at which you view their holographic surface. More than just a physical manifestation this also takes in the connotations of magic and sleight of hand. Finally, Lizzie Donegan’s ladder provides compelling viewing, both inviting us to climb whilst simultaneously warning us off with its rickety construction and photograph of a girl marked for a biro tracheotomy hanging above.
This exhibition is a must see, as are so many of the shows at Airspace and Moot these days. Both galleries are going from strength to strength to provide a solid base for contemporary art in the Midlands.
Richard Brammer is co-editor of online arts curio www.mynameisferdinand.wordpress.com
Writer detail:
Richard Brammer
Venue detail:
AirSpace Gallery
4 Broad Street, Hanley, Stoke on Trent ST1 4HL
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