- Venue
- Saatchi Gallery
- Location
- London
The Saatchi Gallery is one of Britain’s most highly esteemed contemporary art galleries holding countless successful exhibitions from The Triumph Of Painting in 2005 to The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art in 2008. Newspeak: British Art Now is no exception. Presenting a wide collection of art, ranging from detailed drawings and paintings, to abstract neon canvases and sculptures combining a mountain goat with an enlarged perfume bottle to a strange assortment of cardboard boxes and black bags.
The artists included in the exhibition are not, as the title certainly suggests, all British, but instead include a handful of artists of different nationalities, currently living and working in the UK. There seemed no real theme combining the pieces of art in each gallery room (other than keeping each artist’s work together), which for an exhibition of this range is understandable. Whilst a theme can often enhance each piece as they bounce their ideas off each other, the lack of structure in this way did allow the viewer to move freely from space to space whilst ensuring no piece felt out of sync/place.
Whilst there were many paintings that showed expressive movements and an explosion of colour, one artist whose work shone above any of the other painters displaying within the exhibition was Jonathan Wateridge. Displaying three pieces in Gallery 3 on the ground floor Wateridge’s paintings command the attention of the room, filled with colour and the sense of role play yet with astonishing detail and care. Starting from small scale models he constructs himself, and photos of friends in costumes made in his studio, Wateridge paints large scenes that often have a feel of familiarity, as they replicate common scenes from films and old photographs, but studied closely, the viewer can see hidden signs of his made up world.
Wateridge was displayed alongside Tessa Farmer’s ‘Swarm’, a piece of similar scale as a whole, but which consists of tiny insects hung together to form a swarm of skeletons (or fairies as the guide describes) riding on the backs of bees, moths and dragon flies and the like. The large glass cabinet of small, dark creatures draws the viewer closer until the miniature figures become clear and closer still to inspect each one’s perfect construction. Placed in the corner as you enter, but far enough away from the wall to allow someone to walk comfortably around it, the viewer is able to look in from all angles without it interrupting the viewing space of the other artists in the room. With more examination, the skeletons are clearly not in complete control as many seem to be falling off their insects and clinging to either their tails or legs or another skeleton attempting to keep them from falling. Farmer’s intricate and fascinating work truly is a wonder of immense dedication to a flying world of insect remains.
A comparable amount of detail and concentration was evident in Gallery 9 on the first floor. Paul Johnson, also showing three pieces, though of a smaller scale, describes his works as fiction as they are based on found photographs. Johnson cuts by hand small segments of paper to fit each coloured area, then hand colours each piece and reconstructs the picture as a completely flat collage. From a far they are easily mistaken for paintings with rough brush stokes, but only when they are studied carefully is the detail and skill apparent and the respect claimed for each board.
In comparison, Steve Bishop’s ‘J’Adore (Mountain Goat) involving the unlikely ensemble of a Mountain Goat and a giant perfume bottle works well as the taxidermy imitates the shape of half the perfume bottle with its face entwined at the top. The similar colours between the two help pull them together as one object, which is then strengthened and defined by the contrast of the black base. Unfortunately his ‘It’s Hard To Make A Stand’ failed to impress me as much, looking untidy and unfinished using a foam horse, the blue plastic sheet it had arrived in and a fur coat. ‘J’Adore (Mountain Goat)’ on the other hand had been beautifully crafted to a very high standard with obvious thought having gone into every detail.
One piece that is actually on permanent display at the Saatchi Gallery is 20:50 by Richard Wilson. The piece fills the room, quite literally, with used sump oil, creating an ambiguous and confusing environment. The oil reflects the structural design of the room it is in to the extent that it can be mistaken for anything from a highly polished floor to a deep pool of liquid thus leaving the viewer bewildered as to what has been used to create this experience. There was a walk way that could allow the viewer to walk into the room, allowing them to be waist high in the oil. However, to my disappointment, it was closed when I was there meaning the scene could be viewed only from a raised level with a barrier as you entered the room. The ripples made as the oil was gently blown from the surface made it clear it was liquid, but even then, the sheer perfection and depth of the oil created an astonishing space.
