TAMED and TACO at Torre Abbey

Mike Nelson's Taylor during a previous outing, installed in a disused M&S in Margate. Now showing at Torre Abbey until the 20th August.

This peculiar show at Torre Abbey combines pieces from the Tate and the Arts Council Collection with 3-D work from South West artists who entered the annual Torre Abbey Contemporary Open (TACO) under the theme of "Tamed".

Last year the abbey's Spanish Barn proved to be an intimate setting for Antony Gormley's Field for the British Isles. Lifting away the associations of mass human migration that the work sometimes carries, the barn imbued it with the air of a friendly family gathering or sunny weekend at Glastonbury. Rather appropriate for an exhibition in an old-fashioned British seaside town.

By contrast this year, Hirst's Mother and Child Divided sits in the barn like some kind of tacky sideshow attraction. Roll-up roll-up and you can also see Mariele Neudecker's Stolen Sunsets, Paul Coldwell's Bouquet and Mike Nelson's Taylor. And - ouch - Richard Long's Fourteen Stones squeezed into an alcove on top of a strident pattern of red and black floor tiles.

Back in Torre Abbey's main gallery, the work from local artists ranges from Volkhardt Mueller's bleak print installation Cell ... to the frankly twee. Lots of labels tell me how it all relates to the curatorial vision and its theme of tamed. But really, it's a bit confusing.

I'm sure the curator of Torre Abbey knows her demographic well, but personally I feel a little patronised. "Controversial Hirst piece"? Really? This is art from the last century we're talking about.

What's more, sticking Hirst's work alongside other random pieces doesn't help to focus minds on what he and the other artists might seriously be trying to say. It just seems to encourage thoughtless comments from visitors about the trickery of "so-called modern art" and its perceived desire to do little more than shock and offend.

Which is a pity, because Mike Nelson's Taylor deserves much more careful contemplation. This makeshift raft, marooned in the middle of an ancient Torquay barn, seems rich with resonances about human endeavour and desire for adventure, along with corresponding ideas of frailty - even hubris. Carrying a small pile of goods and only a flimsy tent for shelter, it seems destined for wild seas and possible disaster.

TAMED 6th July - 20th August, Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey, Torquay TQ2 5JE. Daily 10-5. Free.

TACO (3D) 10th July - 30th August, Top Floor Gallery and Gardens, Torre Abbey, Torquay TQ2 5JE. Daily 10-5. Adult admission £5.75.

www.torre-abbey.org.uk

A sight for (my) sore eyes

Fantastic documentation of Nexus from Exeter Phoenix.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exeterphoenixgallery/sets/72157624543690378/

Sinking into exhaustion

Putting myself in danger of art overload, I went along to the launch event of Underwater at Spacex on Saturday. It's a group show featuring a crowd-pleasing Bill Viola plus a range of work from other artists who draw on aquatic themes.

Previews are not the best time to think about art, especially not when you're so tired you can hardly speak. But, sitting on the floor to listen to a talk by curator Angela Kingston, I got a long, close and rewarding look at Seunghyun Woo's sculptures. I also found myself returning several times to Dorothy Cross' mesmerising film Jellyfish Lake. It had a dream-like quality that sat well with my dazed state.

Until 11 September 2010. Spacex, 45 Preston Street Exeter EX1 1DF. www.spacex.org.uk

The missing nub of Nexus

Something interesting happened during the course of preparing for Nexus, an exhibition exploring artists’ networks. The four artists who were invited to originate the event – myself, Felicity Shillingford, Francis Ives and Volkhardt Mueller – moved from a genuine attempt at planning and collaboration, to a realisation of its impossibility, to an acceptance of chaos … Out of which emerged a surprisingly polite exhibition.

Nexus has so far been an amazing experience: a chance to work with new colleagues and to exhibit in a high-profile public gallery with the support of a curator, a technician, an education officer, a publicity person, a well-equipped workshop and a well-stocked bar ... all the things that just aren’t there when you’re doing the artist-led thing.

It’s terribly tempting to pat myself on the back and say the exhibition looks really good. It does look good. But that isn’t the whole story.

We set out to create something that wasn’t a traditional group show, and which explored some of the social issues surrounding artistic practice. What’s missing from this show, I’d say, is any concrete sense of the way artists work together or with an institution – from mutual support and sustenance to exploitation and competition. They were all enacted during the preparation and installation, but little has been captured for the audience in the show itself.

Next...Nexus

Have been busy all week installing Nexus at Exeter Phoenix. Pictures here show construction of the garden setting for the exhibition, as well as work in progress by Francis Ives, Jockel Liess and me. Read about some of the ideas and processes leading up to the show on Artsculture.

Nexus 16 July - 1 September, Exeter Phoenix, Gandy Street, Exeter EX4 3LS

Art in my luggage

Just back from installing Stowage at the Barnaby Festival in Macclesfield. It's been an interesting challenge to take a show developed for a series of active retail premises in Exeter and re-make it for a single disused shop at the other end of the country. But Stowage was designed to be portable, so it's finally realised its full potential.

It was a busy few days, but we managed to fit in a flying visit to another Barnaby visual arts show: Save Us at Christ Church. Curated by Karen Gaskill, it features work by artists with links to Macclesfield, including Ian Davenport, David Shrigley, Nick Crow & Ian Rawlinson, as well as Stowage artists Hilary Jack and Ben Cook.

Stowage Shackleton & Sons, 2-4 Church Street, Macclesfield SK11 6LB until 2 July 2010
Save Us Christ Church, Bridge Street, Macclesfield SK11 6EG until 4 July 2010 (see website for opening times)

You, me and the rest of the world

Networking outside of Devon has been a big thing for me this year. I love living in the South West but, at a grass-roots level, it can be very inward-looking. So, in 2009, I got together with fellow Exeter artist Felicity Shillingford to find ways to strengthen links with practitioners in other parts of the country.

First up was Stowage, a chance for South West and North West artists to exhibit together in Exeter and Macclesfield, curated by the two of us. Then, along came an invite to help develop Nexus, an exhibition specifically about artists' networks, dreamt up by Exeter Phoenix curator Matt Burrows.

He wants to show the way Exeter connects with other locations via artists networks and has asked four local artists to invite two artists each to exhibit alongside us - one from the SW region, one from outside.

It's been hard to choose just two, but I decided to pick Rupert White, from Cornwall, who I made a connection with fairly recently via my art writing...and Sally Barker (Yorkshire via London), who emailed me out of the blue about four years ago, also on the back of a review I wrote.

Their work interests me in different ways. Rupert's seems to have strong points of connection with the nature/culture theme that's emerging for the show, while Sally builds models and other objects that often refer to landscape and/or the power structures surrounding artists.

My fellow contributors/selectors for Nexus are Felicity Shillingford, Volkhardt Muller and Francis Ives.

Nexus 16 July - 1 September, Exeter Phoenix, Gandy Street, Exeter EX4 3LS