- Venue
- Surface Gallery
- Location
- East Midlands
With 10 years of exhibitions, curation & steady development under their belt, Surface Gallery have a lot to celebrate. From humble beginnings, this graduate initiated artist collective has survived through venue, funding & member changes, and come out after a decade looking rather good for it. This milestone exhibition explores the colourful history of Surface Gallery as well as showcasing the work of those who have helped create & shape the organisation over the years.
It is great to see a diverse selection of work represented through that of the volunteers, with everything from cakes to video included in this selection. A sense of playfulness and a willingness to embrace freedom with materials shines through much of the work, not least Mandy Bray’s craft-kit-reminiscent cardboard creations. Carefully covered in glitter, beads, drawings and buttons, Bray takes us back to happy childhood days when ‘Art Attack’ moments swept us along in a myriad of glue, scissors & empty boxes of fudge. In mature hands however, these delicately balanced elements invite us to peer in upon miniature worlds, playing with perspective and reclassifying familiar materials.
In a similarly evocative strain, Rachelle Mabboire exhibits a torrent of plastic cups toppling from a table-top, infected it appears, with some manner of crystallised spores. This fungal scene is like a child’s birthday party gone awry, further reflected by the slightly disturbing illustrations above. Mabboire covers the wall with her drawings which spill onto a variety of different papers, including what might be wrapping paper from the 1980’s, and a child’s felt-tip doodles. Forming shapes that could be maps, the pen-drawn Pangaea-like illustrations crumble and curve in a way that is almost viral. In contrast, there is also one of these drawings framed, dated and signed amongst what is otherwise a slightly chaotic collection. Addressing the issue of transformation from child to adult, but perhaps also the artist as a professional, Bray challenges boundaries in this very successful piece. Stephen Turner was one of a minority that did not excite the imagination, with his burnt photographs. Black and white with the occasional human hand retreating into the shadows, the photographs themselves detailed no particular narrative. Pinned to a board by nails, this piece fell by the wayside in what is otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable exhibition.
