- Venue
- Take Courage
- Location
- London
A few students from Goldsmiths are guilty of enveloping their work in such a thick cloak of theory that when you lift the theoretical cover you are left with work that is at best boring and at its worst nonsensical and impenetrable. Luckily this isn’t the case with this small exhibition. You can see the thinking behind the works, however they are not weighed down by it. Perhaps it is because they are all first year students, yet to be corrupted.
The exhibition, which took place over a period of three days at the Amersham Arms did have a “studenty” feel. Most of the works seemed like exercises rather than fully finished work. However this isn’t necessarily bad – they are after all students and they are still experimenting, finding a language that is their own rather than an appropriation. It is a good experiment and a good effort from students who are not under the pressure of putting up a graduate show.
I particularly liked the work of Andrea Zucchini, Splitting Apart– a mixture between a science experiment and a cooking intent gone wrong, the installation successfully appeals to our fascination for gory or disgusting objects and makes it hard to look away. Perhaps it would’ve been even more compelling if the bags were hung directly on the wall rather than on a separate board, but this most likely had to do with space and budget restrictions than with an aesthetic decision.
Alexis Ahn’s work as a whole has a political undertone that you rarely find in UK artists’ work these days. It feels fresh and exciting, especially the installation One Heart, One Mind, One Korea, Together We Live, Together We Die, where a group of plaster figures impassively watch what looks like revolutionary images. Lucy Parkinson’s Ecotone presents an interesting contrast between the image and the object, perhaps a touch too literal but still thought-provoking. Although visually appealing, I was slightly unsure of Holly Bullivant’s Untitled installation, there is a slight disconnection between the image and the object, the passing of time too overtly displayed on the clocks, the tea lights and the plant.
Personally, I had two small issues with the exhibition (as a body rather than the individual works)– I left the exhibition wondering whether any of the artists had actually thought about the context where they were exhibiting, a pub with a history and a life of it’s own, rather than using the upstairs room as an art-gallery, which it isn’t.
Secondly, I’m not sure the title suited the works at all. The accompanying text states that the exhibition wanted to “awaken a new internal awareness of art and its Purpose”. This is such a big claim to make that I would be cautious of proclaiming this. It simply sets the bar too high and is counterproductive for the works, which are well accomplished.
For Goldsmiths’ students, the Amersham Arms pub is like a second home. It is good to see someone actually making good use of such a familiar space. All in all a great effort and a very enjoyable exhibition. I look forward to seeing the work of these artists again as they progress in their degree and their career.
