Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
8 March – 27 April
Reviewed by: Ian Wilson
The Victoria Art Gallery used low ambient lighting when it hosted ceramic sculptor Felicity Aylieff's travelling exhibition 'Sense and Perception' organised by Manchester City Galleries. This level of illumination set me thinking of a De Chirico painting in which large, floor-placed pieces occupied a space with presence and individuality while the inter-relationships between these forms had a sufficiently capacious arena in which to emerge.
The wedge-shaped Thin End (white) and Thin End (black) – both recent works – are concerned with compacting and squeezing the internal space together and it was intriguing to see them in proximity to works such as Black Cloud (2000) and Softly Softly (2001) which are expressions of the inner space spreading outwards. Viewed from different angles these Thin Ends revealed wholly unexpected aspects and dimensions of their formal nature, a quality that has often been a powerful characteristic of Aylieff's work. In one of the texts accompanying the exhibition she says "'reality and concept challenge our everyday experience of material and form", and these were words which had a particular applicability to the viewer's engagement with Cubed Sphere, whose straight lines and curves – while asking questions about form and volume – simultaneously demonstrated how art 'solves' what might be seen as a geometrical conundrum.
An instructive aspect of this show was the resource area that included examples of aggregates, clay body tests, drawings and a video. There were also a number of maquettes – Aylieff makes about twenty for each sculpture, and chooses the one "which gives me most information" and enlarges from it. The insights gained from spending time with these aspects of construction and creation enriched the experience, sensory and perceptual, of Felicity Aylieff's architectonic explorations in clay.
Writer detail:
IAN WILSON
is a freelance writer based in bath
Venue detail:
Victoria Art Gallery
Bath & North East Somerset, Heritage Services, Bridge Street, Bath BA2 4AT
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