- Venue
- Surface Gallery
- Location
- East Midlands
A solo exhibition currently taking place at Surface Gallery is a photography installment by Tom Lovelace, ‘The Cut’. The exhibition produces the prize-winner from last years annual Open Show that included twenty-three other competing artists, held at Surface. After having seen some of Tom’s work when installing the exhibit, I was looking forward to viewing his photographic works, the objects and processes that create them- especially as a budding photography fan.
When entering the gallery space Tom had acquired his photographs in accordance of series and production. On one side of the gallery are his winning series from the Open Show, opposite a final series of industrial crafted images and finally towards the far end the artists recent work. Firstly, it is obvious that installation and intervention are a fundamental element of his work. Having listened to Tom’s private talk at the viewing I thought it was essential that I observed his industrial photographs more up-close and personal than before. Therefore, it was only right to view his first series of landscape photos, ‘Site 407’, which appears to be a construction site. The environment solely captured for the camera creates a scene that the viewer is unsure of at first glance. The misty scenes produce a concept of an industrial site that has been sculpted by the artist himself. Tom revisited the location to capture it with the intention that the landscape and his interaction with it would create an ambiguous scene. One of these visits took place early one morning when there was a heavy mist encircling the area. It was this moment that finalized the documentation of the space.
The works on display in the exhibition are part of an on-going project investigating the medium of photography and the visual possibilities when fused with sculpture and installation. This can primarily be seen in his ‘Unit 2’ series, a collection of industrial photographic images that the artist finds incredibly ambiguous. They have a clear purpose if they are used by the people who designed them but their visual appearance is secondary to their function.[1] As a viewer, the industrial machines and their placement within a factory creates a gym-like scene and function. This is infused by the white lines surrounding or encasing the self-made objects or the black and yellow taping. The machines are all in play with one another. Having learnt that Tom built the life-size objects and placed them within a particular environment the images had a new portrayal.
‘Each image is approached as a visual fragment from a larger manufactured world.’[2]
Finally, it is the detailing of the industrial machines and the moody night setting of the factory that encases them, creating a scene of reality and fiction, and our own calculation of their visual function.
His latest series called ‘Ruptures’ shows a progression in the artists work. But again, underlying themes can be sought out. In Tom’s image ‘Yellow/Concrete’ the sculptural context relates to his findings, creation and manipulation of industrial objects. Not only this, but between all the series on show a running theme of yellow appears in a majority of his images. Even though his new works consist of only two pieces on show at Surface, it is a significant insight into the progression of Tom’s work and that not only does his work teeter upon the fantastical, but his talent also.
[1] ‘Source: The Photographic Review’, Issue 57, page 21
[2] Surface Gallery Press Release, Tom Lovelace ‘The Cut’
