INTERFACE

REVIEW

Beck's Futures 2

Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool 2 August – 15 September

Reviewed by: Lucienne Cole

Beck's – not a bad bottle of beer; 'BECK'S Futures' – big money. With a total prize fund of £65,000, it outstrips the Turner Prize in purely cash terms. With the commendable aims of identifying and supporting the most promising young artistic talent across the UK, unfortunately the prize seems to open up that whole miserable divide we try to pretend doesn't exist – between the presumed pre-eminent London arts scene – with graduates from London MA courses dominating the show – and 'elsewhere'.

The Bluecoat exhibition was a much smaller show than was originally presented at the ICA in London. David Burrows' 'foam-tastic' splats were still there but there was no video piece from Fabiénne Audéoud and John Russell; a different piece from Brian Griffiths and – mores the pity – only one DJ Simpson. I would have preferred to see multiple works by DJ Simpson above the subdued tones of Tim Stoner's smoothly surfaced paintings – works that won him the £20,000 prize.

My money for the prize would have been on the Blue Peter-style constructions of Brian Griffiths. Something of a wild card, Griffiths explained that Willy Wonka and The Prisoner inspired his works since these productions "were about created worlds where everything made sense"

I also felt drawn to Dan Holdsworth's photographs, though in scale they reminded me of advertising display boards. With their strange bright light, emptiness and intriguing titles – A machine for living and At the edge of space – they looked a bit like model sets with something of A Clockwork Orange feel about them.

The separate student film and video prize could be construed as something of an afterthought, and is certainly a test of stamina if seen in its entirety – requiring the viewer to stand in front of a TV for over two-and-a-half hours. Clare Davies won second prize for her simple, beautiful film of falling bouncy balls, perhaps more akin to abstract painting than even DJ Simpson achieves in his work.

A lot of money, time and effort was expended on the aggressive marketing of 'BECK'S Futures 2', possibly greater even than on the actual show and the artists themselves. Nonetheless, the result is an enjoyable appetiser, a taster, to get to know these names better.

Writer detail:
LUCIENNE COLE
is an artist and curator of Parkingspace in Liverpool

Venue detail:

Back to top

Post your comment

No one has commented on this article yet, why not be the first?

To post a comment you need to login

Back to top

Back to reviews »