#bloomgberg

 ‘We are all very disappointed’, Alice Hartley, 2013, monoprint on paper, 470 x780 cm

 Friday. Not only my first press review but my first experience of the Bloomberg new contemporaries; an annual competition where selected (recent) fine art graduates get a chance to show their work.

Receiving details of the exhibition my first thoughts are that the World Museum is a rather traditional venue for a contemporary show. Meeting a group of critics we question this choice while lost in the bug emporium a space designed to entice children with its bright colours, projections and soft play area. Then as if someone is screaming “Ha, told you so!” we pass through a door and are hit by the silence of a gallery, a white cube gallery. The space is grand, the long windows and high ceilings all part and parcel of the Neo-classical architecture. With an exhibition of different artists with no planned themes the space becomes an important factor being the one constant point for the show. Other Biennial spaces like The Old Blind School and its musty haunting corridors give the work a sense of trepidation, the World museum gives a feeling of tradition. This juxtaposition of traditional venue vs. contemporary art causes me to question how far artwork has become detached from historical methods? Which dominates the show, traditional or contemporary?

  Henry Hussey, 'The Guardian', 2013, Damask, cotton, yarn, velvet, silk, screen print, 200 x 150cm

For Henry Hussy there is a risk of being over shadowed by Alice Hartley’s confrontational ‘We are all very disappointed’ screen print piece, from floor to ceiling it demands your attention at the start of the exhibition. However ‘The Guardian’ is looming at my shoulder, telling a story and enticing me in. His grandmother? A pit bull? I am hooked, not only by the text but also the combination of prints on the tapestry. It is clever use of traditional techniques such as appliqué and embroidery paired with contemporary digital printing.

Plinth presentation of video work

 Around the rest of the exhibition an astonishing 24 video pieces account for almost half of the entries. So is this the medium of choice these days? Maybe, but as an art student I can vouch that video is a cheap way to produce and store work so as studio spaces are tight and materials expensive it seems to add up that there is such an influx of video. A traditional painting is best viewed in the flesh and doesn’t translate well to screen however in the age of social media a video is easily shared in its correct format, thus another reason to encourage the use of video. Of course videos are viewed in the gallery setting and turned sculptural as shown in the New Contemporaries as each piece sits on a plinth like a bust in a stately home. However this repeated 24 times causes me to lose focus of the videos deeming them samey and draws emphasis to the traditional works all presented in a variety of ways.

Miroslav Pomichal, 'Mismatched Couple', 2013, oil on canvas, carved, painted wood installation, 200 x 360 x 20 cm

   Traditional plinths may not be the captivating way to present every video but the reversal of taking a traditional method and displaying it in a contemporary manner works for Miroslav Pomichal’s ‘Mismatched Couple’.  Standing on the floor, the canvases lean on the wall like real people, a wooden rod sits between them and the yellow background draws attention no frame could attract. Through this installation the pieces take away the typical vantage point of the viewer insisting they interact with the work in an unconventional way.