Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee 28 April – 24 June
Reviewed by: Rob Hunter
The latest offering to land on the banks of the Tay direct from the international merry-go-round was the man synonymous with award-winning, plaza-worthy sculpture. Surprising then that this was Deacon's first solo show in Scotland since 1984, and the first outing for an entirely new body of work. The promotional posters promised photogenic sculpture, and with Deacon you can usually expect the kind of stuff seen in the movies.
The pull of Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a solitary heavyweight unit of ceramic could not be denied. Its fiery red hue adhered to its place of making; the embryonic shape alluded to an internalised organ (but for a neighbouring collage that suggested its origins could be found on the cover of a prepubescent jotter). Its scale allowed the surrounding space to come in to play; a thick glaze meant that its surface acted as a reciprocal membrane, both absorbing and reflecting the interior architecture of the gallery. Deacon has managed to muster something new out of his physical material – there was no way that bulk of inert clay was going anywhere but I couldn't help thinking that 'thing' was waiting for something. Not so much for our attentions, but instead for its orders – sent from a fellow more senior volcanic mass – which was clearly somewhere else. All in all, this charged environment acted as a timely reminder: for a work to be specific to a site it is not implicit that it has an atmospheric or theatrical setting.
The bubbling uncertainty caused by the intervention of this oddly familiar object could not prepare us for the visual assault course next door. UW84DC, a vast conundrum of timber spirals and undulating twists and bends occupied the gallery floor. It was easy to see them as a complicated mass of wood shavings that had been enlarged through microscopic scrutiny; this meant that participating viewers could feel cajoled into a strange inner space-type transaction.
The rudimentary properties of weight, scale and volume were put through a rigorous workout, as was the eye – it struggled to keep up with the multiplicity of form and surface movement. However, any desire to run our hands over these pieces was rebuked by an endless number of metal brackets and screws which pierced their surface at regular intervals: they were annoying, like sleeping policemen are to boy racers.
On closer inspection it became clear that this entire body of work followed a rigid order and was subservient to a limited palette of sections; a sort of alphabet of terms not too unlike the one in use on this page. Despite this, it was difficult not to be seduced by their lyrical and free-flowing content. This was not helped, however, by a painted floor, which was too similar in tone.
Deacon ticked all the boxes in his (given) brief: UW84DC dramatised the kinaesthetic experience of studying sculpture and adhered to the troublesome link between fixed, three-dimensional matter and the adventure gained through the viewer's constantly shifting register. These incredible sculptures were, in a sense, virtual – their highly fabricated character forced us to think how something can be communicated and how much of it we want. Deacon's sculpture challenges what it means to take pleasure in looking at stuff and the ramifications of thinking about it.
Writer detail:
ROB HUNTER
is an artist and teaches on the Sculpture Programme, Edinburgh College of Art.
Venue detail:
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