- Venue
- Furtherfield
- Location
Often artists prize the response of non artists to their work. Although many people who attend galleries are other artists or those with an involvement in the arts – I have the figures somewhere, artists still make their work for “people”, and their authentic and untainted response. This often ends up in an inelegant dance around – what does it make you feel, well, what’s it supposed to be, well, what do you see, I dunno, what’s it about, and so on.
The person I went to this exhibition with is a non artist, and therefore an exhibition viewer whose response is highly authentic. He came away feeling quite angry and insulted and a bit pissed off by it. Hooray, the artist might think, a response, but no. He was angry and felt cheated of the time he had spent there.
It’s hard to get past the initial claim for the show, that it marks a significant moment for contemporary art. What an enormous and momentous statement, and in the week that Grayson Perry starts his Reith lectures on Radio 4 about keeping art real, people.
Even artists are people with responses, believe it or not, and yet sometimes have to work hard in order to distinguish an inner reaction from the trial of figuring out the clues around an artwork which is again surrounded by text. Sometimes this text is informative, scholarly, enlightening, and sometimes it is hyperbole.
I feel fortunate that I go to a fair amount of exhibitions in various capacities, as an artist, as reviewer and an interested viewer. Text is part of the exhibition, and I believe should be a coherent and cohesive factor – basically it should really match the work – does the exhibition do what it says on the tin, does the tin reflect its art contents.
Like this review, where I have talked about everything else other than the works themselves, Furtherfield tell us how significant this moment is to contemporary art, that these artists are ‘big’ names – internationally established artists who regularly show their work, to critical acclaim, at contemporary art galleries around the world. They have crossed over into the mainstream art world whilst maintaining a critical edge.
The text continues further and seeks to convince as if it is an audacious funding application. I am on the side of art and always want to find something to understand, like or get about a work. I don’t like to be defeated by art nor to be so put off it by outrageous claims that I can only think cynical or contrary thoughts. If we, the viewer, don’t think it’s that significant, what does that say about us? Are we wrong? Have we missed something? Or is much of the writing about work that artists have done before and elsewhere which is not in the exhibition?
But what is in the exhibition? What would you expect to see in an exhibition which marks a significant moment for contemporary art? I for one expect to see something I have never seen or conceived of before, and if it hadn’t been for that statement myself and my non artist companion might have viewed the work differently.
There is a wonderful audio installation by Mark Amerika, a dark booth with a lectern, and a lecture going on which sounds like one of those positive thinking tapes, or a humorous professor. Canned laughter responds to all the points he lightly makes about serious issues in the artworld, about successful artists being the ones who are best branded, and so on. It’s a layered, successful piece.
