- Venue
- Bonington Gallery
- Location
No intriguing or pretentious title; no generalised theme: Nottingham Trent Fine Art Degree Show 2007 does not pretend to be anything it is not.
The end of three years exploration, study and growth has developed a wide range of new and well presented artworks. Each room seemed to be curated to a certain extent: downstairs, a woody jungle fills the space: a pig-frog, a family tree and enchanted woods, an underlying meaning that does not connect but develops a magic that saturates the atmosphere and absorbs the audience into a world of make-believe. In the upper studio, a combination of painting, photography, installation and sculpture decorates and embellishes the walls and floor. The Bonington Lecture Theatre and Beamer Room provide a video work experience ranging from dancing animation to searching around a psychiatric ward; and the occasional live art piece dispersed throughout the show, surprises the viewer out of their passive observation.
Two pieces that subsumed me were situated next to each other on the Mezzanine. The first, a video piece by Katrine Brosnan was appropriately titled Electrolux 52S. Simplistically mounted onto the white brick wall, a state of the art plasma screen seeks to parallel the world the video piece is set within. The split-screen bisects the glass enabling us to watch not only from afar, but also up close and personal within the telephone box. Both screens have a voyeuristic angle as to suggest the lady in the telephone box is not aware of her stardom on film and that this is completely serious. Shooting from a distance and then shooting from above, and bugging the telephone calls, her facial identity is lost and all we see is her uniform clothing and the professional voice with rehearsed lines that flow from her mouth.
As time passes, small parts of the story unravel and the meaning is gradually understood more and more. The clipboard in hand and her smart dress portray the idea of an agent for a company, or client attempting their sales pitch. As I began to listen more carefully, I slowly realised the absurdity of her speech: a woman attempting to find an old upright vacuum cleaner, an Electrolux 52S to be precise, a job. No cleaner; no human help: Just the vacuum cleaner in its natural state. And as this is introduced to the situation I suddenly took notice of the cleaner itself, standing to attention by her feet, almost waiting expectantly for some glimmer of hope, a chance to be of use.
Not only does this piece comment on the redundancy of electrical items as soon as the new improved version hits our stores, but the way that just like this vacuum cleaner, people are treated is a similar manner. As time passes, and a ‘new improved' youth with more qualifications but no experience takes over and the old version is made redundant, useless, with no function left for their daily routine and end up with the same fateful future.
Dry humour seeps through this piece yet we find it battling with the searing realisation of the negative inevitability our products, and then again ourselves, will face in the future. Listening to the dial tones and then recipient after recipient, you wait patiently just hoping that you will be the one to hear a successful phone call, but this longing is never fulfilled. I left with the endorphins running through my body from laughing at its comedy, but juxtaposed with this, is the knowledge that the hope was in vain as it trails behind you at your heels.
A few steps around the corner from this piece I was presented with a completely different artwork. Blue Blue Blue Velvet Velvet Velvet, a video and performance piece by Aaron Juneau is confined to two small rooms hidden behind a curtained door of blue velvet.
On entering, a welcoming leather sofa entices you to sit and watch the three television screens. The walls painted pink and the TV's boxed in dark wood are reminiscent of Dorothy Vallens' apartment in David Lynch's masterpiece. All this alongside the title initiates the connection between the three screens. The first displays a short edited clip of the actress in the film.
"Do you like the way I feel?"
"Feel me."
"Hit me"
A beautiful face, luscious lips, eyes shut with blue eyes shadow, the piece fills the air with a low key eroticism. At first it appeared that each TV was showing the same piece but edited slightly differently or of different types of TV. But as I continued to watch, I gradually became aware that only the first screen starred the original actress. The second was a pre-recording of a performer taking on Isabella Rossellini's role. And then with the last screen… the timing seemed to change, the lighting was slightly altered. As you get up from your seat and approach the connecting room, you are presented with a stunning live performance. The same words, the same make-up, the same pose, similar lighting; the final screen was a live stream of the performer in the next room. I found myself completely engrossed in watching her; the feeling that I shouldn't be watching her. With her eyes gently closed she seemed vulnerable but as she spoke these repeated seductive words, I felt the she was slowly enticing and pulling me in like an ancient greek siren.
The progression from the film, recorded years ago; the second, an imitation of the film recorded months before; and the third, the same performer as the second but live in real time. The steady understanding, the sexual tension and the repetition of the strongly emotive phrases fill the surroundings and seep into your ears.
This piece stuck with me as I left the show; the act of transcending time and the eventuality of the repetition pushing me out of the room, as I could not take anymore, seemed to echo and haunt my thoughts the rest of the day.
All in all, this degree show showed a strong sense of professionalism and ability to curate the works so that no one piece was overpowered by another in close proximity. Such a range of mediums and well thought out ideas; there was something for everyone. Nottingham Trent's new Fine Art graduates are now released into the professional art world, and I have great expectations of what is now to come.
www.fineart2007.com
Artist and writer working in Nottingham.
