Saturday spent at the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2009 at the Burton Art Gallery in Bideford.
Two pieces were worth the trip by themselves: Chie Konishi's huge, detailed, obsessive and potentially endless drawing of piece of fraying, torn fabric and Heather Phillipson's nine-minute DVD Head in which a knitted hat is unravelled and a head of hair becomes increasingly tangled.
In fact, fabric (drawings of lace and obliterated knitting patterns, as well as actual tapestry and stitching) was a dominant theme. Pattern featured strongly too.
It's always tricky to be objective about a show you've been rejected from (The distance travelled by foot travelled by hand didn't quite make the grade) but, while I felt fairly and squarely beaten by much of the work, a few pieces seemed derivative or just plain dumb. And I would have liked a little more challenge over the boundaries of drawing.
Some of the presentation disappointed too. Wobbly home-cut mounts, unintentional dings in the paper and muck in the frames are not things you'd expect from pricey work in a prestigious national show. And, while I'm on the subject of professional quality control, they could have proof-read the wall texts and catalogue a bit more carefully too.
Until 9th April at the Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, then 19th April-7th May at the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham.
No comments:
Post a Comment