- Venue
- The Sunday Painter
- Location
- London
A text by David John Tacey called Jung and the New Age and New Age Commodification by Michael York informs the premise of the show which in a nutshell describes the forces which have been repressed by established religious social beliefs – namely types of new age beliefs and mysticism and the relationships that human beings instinctually have with the Mother Nature rather than as sold commodities, consuming packaged notions of popular health (eating yoghurt, drink Yakult), and ‘spiritual’ well-being and zen (by reading The Power of Now or The Secret) that conforms and chains us to a type of ‘Western’ lifestyle. These books of course are available to buy via Amazon and dispatched by a Fulfilment Centre at the earliest opportunity.
N/V_Projects have worked hard to draw out these links to the works in a very modest white cube space. At first glance and taking the space as a whole it appears as if the animal is the totem that links all the works in the show somehow. The elephant motif (appropriated from another artist) present in Ganesh XI (2010), the Macaw feathers of Timur Si-Qin’s Deliver me from Dipolar Spirits (2013) and the image of the white calf at the beginning of Neil Beloufa’s video Kempinski (2007). In another exhibition, Tyra Tingleff’s Respect Pop, but we’re broken up… (2013) an abstract painting drooling with sanguinous paint stains and 80s electrical fizz could have been great but here it personally seemed out of place and jarring in juxtaposition, and slightly askew with the other works. A mosquito had somehow landed on the piece (see photo) during the time I was there so maybe this happy accident provided a link as Zeuxis painting did for the birds!
Watching all 15 mins of Kempinski was a generally rewarding experience and better suggested themes of alternative living, the spiritual and psycho-geographical fulfilment. Diving into the exhibition text further meant that other links started to present themselves such as the juxtaposition of a revered Hindu deity and the symbol of commodity (the Nike symbol). The male and female ideals in Si-Qin’s work show the viewer the Photoshop realities of ‘healthy’ perfection cynically marketed to the population in shopping arcades the world over. The combined Peace, Crucifix, Ying Yang and Islamic faith symbols on the reverse are hidden from view, perhaps one can find peace only by being open to different religious world-views (or maybe alternatively by worshipping the cult of bodily perfection). Julie Born Schwartz’s installation I Had an Expectation that it would fade II (2013) is perhaps the most visually striking work here and shows a golden lifeless hand touching another symbol loaded with meaning – the pyramid, which infers the Eye of Providence. A hand in this case emerging from the chaotic backdrop appears to be a symbol of humanity struggling to reach out to some kind of spiritual enlightenment to help bring it back to animation.
Due to the size of space it is easy for any ambient sound to inform the character of the rest of the works in the room (such as a Haroon Mirza piece would for example). In this case, the choice of video provided a slightly menacing soundtrack to the whole show with the gentle respites of the French voices lulling the entire space into a slightly otherworldly, but still edgy experience.
Interestingly, there were free acupuncture sessions which could be booked in advance for those brave or organised enough to try. Counting the number of works and having noticed there was seemingly one work shy of the 6 mentioned in the handout, I enquired about this to a helpful gentleman behind the desk. Rather embarrassingly I had not in fact noticed one of the works in the room, a corrugated work by Lewis Teague Wright which I had mistaken – like many first timers who come here apparently – for a pillar but was in fact a very subtle piece. However, this was a fortunate stroke of luck as he began to relay the story of how the artist had undertaken a residency in Africa having taken one of the wooden floor tiles from the gallery with him. A blood spattered voodoo ritual had been enacted (on the tile) and then replaced in the gallery, although he noted the fact that this act was to plant an ‘in-the-know’ rumour. There was a slight twinkle in his eye that suggested that this tale may have been sold slightly tongue in cheek, yet the fact served it’s purpose as the physical references to animals and life that I had initially assumed came neatly full circle and I stepped out onto the sun soaked Peckham pavements with a pleasing feeling of accidental fortunes, and a spring to my step.
