#walkergallery

#ouranniversary #muchaexhibition #liverpool #walkergallery #garland #headdress

The whole room is alive. Alive with electricity, psychedelic colours and mystery. To begin the edgy comfort of entering a 1970s-punk rock scene is thrilling, hearing the low thrumming of what appeared to be an amp engulfed ever sense a human has. Florescent posters blocked all view of what art work lingered behind and upon glazing at these posters you see “KAPUT” and below “Benedict Drew”. Benedict Drew (born 1977), is an Australian artist who works in video, audio and sculpture creating uncomfortable and unnerving pieces. His work is highly influenced by technology and the links between this and society. As you wander through, the space opens into a high ceilinged white room covered in bright colours and cables leading to a huge fluorescent portrait of Richard Branson. The cables themselves are attached to his eyes which created a feeling of a person’s personal space being invaded. A powerful sense such as sight is quite personal, the feeling of not being able to see is a frightening one and possibly suggests why the image seemed so still, when you can’t see, you can’t move. I also jumped to the thought of putting pennies on a dead persons’ eyes, which was a tradition brought by the Greeks in which the coins were placed to pay the boatman who would ferry the dead across the river Styx. Without payment, the Greeks believed the soul would be forced to stay on the shore of Hades. In this case, however, the soul seems to be feeding a morphed, twisted form which has been placed onto a slab of wood covered by a black cloth. While contemplating the whole piece, I can’t help but stand in wait for an alien to burst out of the multi- coloured stomach of this hard foam filled form as in the film Alien or at least imagine “aliens” gathering around this “shrine” using a mixture of spiritual beliefs and technology to create life, not just physical life but create a conscious form of life. Drew’s sculptures that surround this “Richard Branson shrine” don’t hold the same strength and power. The rock like objects each stand alone, there are four in total all in shimmering gold and bursting and bubbling with pink hard foam. Even though the sculptures don’t individually hold as much intensity they certainly show something of interest. Unlike the “Richard Branson shrine” they portray a lot of movement, the gold, tinfoil like, material is moving. It has air blowing lightly through it creating a wonderful soft flutter and bring delicacy to the whole room which I feel is vitally important and difficult to do in such a big space with such towering art works. The main movement seems to arrive from the bubbling pink matter which isn’t physically moving. I’m as confused as you probably are. How can something not moving, appear too move more? I don’t know, somehow it works, somehow your waiting for the pop and bubble like a pan boiling over. Video art has never impressed me much; I generally get bored or agitated because I found them enigmatic, Drew created a video piece something I wasn’t looking forward to after experiencing such intense pieces I was waiting to be let down. I took my place however and sat down to watch, only to be transfixed by the strange and slight movements of a male body. The sound that went with it was loud and uncomfortable but you couldn’t look away it was like watching a dance routine where you sit fascinated by the synchrony. The subject in the video never spoke but he breathed heavily and with some difficulty, the angles on the camera and the lighting allow the audience to see each muscle move and flex rhythmically. Fading in and out of the man’s body to his face to a snake in green grass the whole video is somewhat “trippy” leaving you confused and with an awareness of one’s own body and breath. The biggest shock of the exhibition over all was probably the contrast of art work, this battle between a stunning neoclassical building, renaissance art and contemporary art. In theory, the show sounded as though your 60-year-old father was trying to be more “with the times” and “make himself cooler”. When I entered, the live DJ didn’t fill me with confidence, I just felt Gabriel Rossetti may not have felt it work well with his artwork.  Nevertheless, Drew’s art work contrasted excellently, suggesting the question can any art go anywhere? My advice, try it. You never know unless you try and just maybe you’ll succeed just as well as Benedict Drew has.

Liverpool's Walker Gallery has acquired the entire Hirsute Suite for their permanent collection. #chuffed #Liverpool #walkerartgallery #walkergallery #zine #poundshopzine #smallpress #artbook #artbooks (at Walker Art Gallery Liverpool)