Between intention and reception

I have been worrying away at Sovay Berriman's current exhibition at Exeter Phoenix: Entertaining at the Dust Lounge. The whole thing gives me such an itch, especially after I heard the artist in dialogue with curator Matt Burrows.

They talked a lot about spontaneity, escapism, Busby Berkeley musicals, stage sets, cruise liners, Gothic literature, science fiction - a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, further fed by intelligent questions from the audience. The trouble is, when I look at the work I just can't find those connections in it. It's a wonderful show of drawings and sculpture: precisely constructed, with stark white spaces and neutral palette. The whole thing has an air of scientific detachment and a slightly cruel edge. But no dancing girls.

I tracked down a review by Lizzie Lloyd and find I'm much more in tune with her reading of the exhibition. Also slightly relieved to find I'm not alone. But it does bring me back to the persistent problem for contemporary artists. We are expected to be able to talk about our work, to discuss its influences (at least the ones we're conscious of) and to offer suggestions as to its interpretation, but it's not always helpful.

Yet in this case, it's precisely that gap between what the artist says and what I see that compels me to keep re-visiting the work. Funny that.

Until 2nd May at Exeter Phoenix Galleries. www.sovayberriman.co.uk