Cathy's Art Diary

Clever but dull exhibition at Somerset House Gallery 31 of work by Christine Sun Kim. It consisted of stretched shaped canvases which evidently mirrored the movements made by someone signing the titles in American Sign Language. It was a clever idea and about language occupying space but I’m afraid as objects they were quite dull. They’d have benefited by being shown with a video of someone signing the words. I see here is a video online so I’m off to watch it. Closed 21 May 2023  

Incompressible exhibition at Somerset House of three videos and an installation. I’m afraid the handout was so convoluted, that despite reading it a number of times, I’m still not sure what the point of the show was and therefore didn’t feel invested enough to watch the videos. I’m afraid when a phrase in the handout ‘fictional activism’ has to have an asterisked note below I lose the will to live. The show was curated by ‘exploratory producing platform’ A—-Z in response to an interpretation of The Tempest as a critique of colonialism but I had no idea what that had to do with the art. Now if the installation shown here has been a comment on the World Cup I’d have understood but evidently it was a ‘violent investigation into the art world’. Closes 19 March 2023

Refreshing exhibition at Somerset House curated by Taylor LeMelle. I say refreshing as the commentary says it has no theme in particular and it is about anything. “It is about the viewer’s appreciation of whatever connections exist between their own life experience and these works.” Am I showing my age to say to me it said 1970s living room? The wallpaper was commissioned for the site by Mani Kambo and is a three woodblock print. The chairs came from other rooms in the building. The pictures on the walls are a series of prints by Tai Shani called The Neon Hieroglyph. I’m not sure I understood them but it this context they were attractive. Closes 20 November 2022  

Serene installation at Somerset House by a Somerset House Studio resident artist SERAFINE1369 (Jamila Johnson-Small). The work looks at objects and materials which give a sense of time. The commentary says it is meant to evoke an exploded clock. I always love this rarely used, decayed space at Somerset House and this was a beautiful and imaginative use of it. I like the vistas through the rooms which were set up and the moments it had to stop and think. I liked the voice telling the time every minute and was surprised how long I was in there. Evidently at some times the artist performs in the space and a you are invited to sit and meditate in the room with crystals although I think I would have felt quite self-conscious. Closed 30 October 2022    

Small exhibition at Somerset House looking at the role of the bedroom using art by five of the artists in the Somerset House Studios. Curated by Lucia Rios Gonzalez and Jonny Tanna of the Harlesden High Street art space the show explores the changing function of the bedroom as more people work from home. I wasn’t always sure I could spot the link between the art work and the brief but there were some interest pieces. I liked YA’s and Cassandra Burrell’s painted leather jacket but I wasn’t sure of the link to bedrooms. I preferred there plaster cast of books on a shelf with a face painted across the spines. My favourite piece, shown here, was Tyreis Holder’s bright work in carpet which distorted the room. I also likes KO___LO’s use of the fireplace to display digital photo frames and memorabilia. Closes 17 July 2022

Strange exhibition at Somerset House of work by artists in the Somerset House Studios residency. This was the fourth show in a series highlighting the work of the residency artists. This one was curated by Stella Sideli and it “considers the temporary synchronicity between people, bodies, sounds and signals”. No I don’t understand either! My favourite piece was by Abbas Zahedi and consisted of a kick drum pedal against the gallery door with some sort of digital acoustic effect so that when you pressed the pedal it made a noise. This was accompanied by a tiny digital print of a brussels sprout over the door. I’ve no idea what it meant but it was fun and interactive. I liked Joe Namy’s curtain shown here which broke up the space. Again I have no idea what it was about and reading the rather dense handout, which I kept, doesn’t help. The other two works by Phoebe Davies and Sonya Dyer were video pieces and I wish I’d had more time to watch them properly, particularly the one by D...

Puzzling exhibition at Somerset House of work by four contemporary artists who have been in residence in the Somerset House Studios on the theme of the body as an archive. I must admit I found the handout impenetrable and really didn’t understand what the art works were trying to do other than it was about bodies containing the past and present. I didn’t have the patience to watch the video by Josiane M.H. Pozi in such a cramped space. Majed Aslam presented pharma-chemically modified photographs, not I’m not too sure either! The picture is of Col Self work on the idea of the mid-phases in sculptural work which I think I understand but don’t hold me to it. C losed 31 August 3021