- Venue
- Nottingham Trent University
- Location
- East Midlands
BREAD-THTAKING STUFF
So, what’s on at Nottingham Trent’s Fine Art Degree Show? Or just SO WHAT perhaps. If you’re hunting for artistic gems you have to go through a load of mediocre stones to find them here. But trust me, the gems are there. For me, one piece really rose above the rest like freshly baked bread over flat dough. If you’re going to see this show, do not miss BREAD JESUS. Samuel Read-Jones’ ‘Ascension’ is as strangely beautiful as it is clever or shocking; furthermore it looked like a piece that could be at home in a gallery, not just in the comfort zone of a degree show. It was bizarrely wonderful that I was looking at this life-sized sculpture like it was something precious, ancient or even holy, when after all it was just a giant loaf of bread in the shape of a bearded man…with a silly bread-based joke title. Add to that a muslin-covered plinth, with a poetic shard of light and you get something truly special. From the museum lighting and incredible atmosphere, the religious metaphors and deep connotations, ‘Ascension’ is a piece that will stick in my brain where some of the works floated straight out.
Maybe I’m naively drawn to things that are visually astounding, or maybe I just admire attention to detail and obvious effort, as one of the other highlights for me was Samuel Minton’s ‘The Protagonist(s)’. A replica of a room so exact you could believe a lonely old man had lived in there for years, right down to the mould on the wallpaper. The work was sad, sincere and genuinely touching, moreover I was impressed by his choice to leave an explanation of what the work was trying to achieve outside the door; this made the work accessible where some works were just pretentiously confusing to their audience. Another honourable mention is Rob Osborne’s ‘Life’, a bizarre corridor of buzzing sculptures charged with personality and charm, despite being covered in nails and having an implied risk of electrocution attached to them. Ben Wheele’s nightmarish animation ‘Untitled’ also impressed me with its constant visual barrage of disgusting images and the artist’s obvious skill in his media, although I did have to sit through four other films before it came on.
Unfortunately, the overall show had telltale signs of being put together in a sort of blind panic; it doesn’t take a genius to understand that sticking a loud installation next to someone’s quiet video piece will leave viewers ripping their hair out in frustration. Actually, frustrating and confusing the audience seemed to play a large part in this year’s show, like some great big joke that you’re not involved in. Why can’t I get in this room…oh, it’s a performance that’s on in like 5 HOURS. Why is there graffiti everywhere, should I call…oh, it’s work, gosh I am so STUPID. Great, art that makes you feel stupid. I was particularly amused by going into a video installation, separated from another piece by just a sad-looking curtain, still being able to see and hear the other work. It's like somebody forgot about the dress rehearsal and just plunged in hoping nobody would notice. The audience does notice and I hate being treated like an idiot.
I could go on for ages. But yes, go see it for the bread man, he’s really good. And if you don’t like him, I suppose you could always eat him.
Natalie Mills
