The show consisted of a series of works made of earth, clay, mud dug from the ground at various locations within a 20 mile radius of Bath. These had been used to make a series of masks, based on (I presume) the artist's own face. The ways in which the different clays dried and cracked, and the bits of other material, grass, leaves, grit, etc, in the clay/mud mix, gave each one a unique colour and texture. Arranged together in a long line on the gallery wall, they looked a little like a sort of 3D 'rogues' gallery' or a police identity parade line-up. The colours were lovely, ranging form chalky white to almost black, tar-like clay.
A second tranche of work was made in California, and consisted of several installations based on mud casts of feet of forest rangers and people who worked the land in a mountain nature park. Thee feet were very evocative, the casts were so fine that you could see the lines of veins and bones on the feet and toes. Some were arranged in circles, the endless walking we all do, going through life getting nowhere muh.
A third set of works were all about hands, and arm-spans round a circle or across a square, based on steel frameworks. These were, to my mind, less interesting and less visually compelling, as if the artist's original die was being stretch a little too thin.
There were also some small-cale models of the human form, which were interesting for their careful exploration of scale as much as anything. Some were still attached to a steel grid ro framework, which I rather liked.
Overall, I thought this was a good exhibition and I liked much of the work. The colours of the clay were especially lovely. It was good to also have a geological map of the area on sow, making clear where each of the mud samples had come from. Astonishing variety of soil in a relatively small area.
No comments:
Post a Comment