EXIT REVIEW: JMU students
David Heron
David Heron paints the edges
of his canvases. He continues the flat motifs
over the edges of the square fields,
across the borders, leaving behind the
flat plane of the painting
that books reproduce and moving into the more
three-dimensional painting as
object field. His work refers to territories
flags(or flag-like emblems),
fake bricks (real wallpaper) without
deciding which side of the
fence to sit on. Is he advocating borderless
relations or accepting that
two diverse surfaces can live in harmony next to
each other? Edge to edge. The
suite of three canvases raises interesting
questions, with the only disappointment
being the decision to include Tiger
Man (the tiger and Elvis
piece) which served not to offset but rather to
upset some of the other ideas
that have the potential to go somewhere.
Tim Ellis
Tim Ellis appears to have had
enormous fun in his studio. In the early
1990s Broderbund brought out
the KidPix software that allowed you to draw
sweeping lines comprised
totally of little icons, logos and bleeps. Ellis
work offers a similar
playfulness. But this of course has political
overtones if you follow that
everything one does (as an artist) has
somewhere down the line a
logo or brand attached to it. The art shops on
Bold Street and Slater Street
have become logo-friendly and Ellisı work has
the potential to deal with
these subtle issues of creativity. The fear is
that, as on the opening night
he could not really remember why he called one
piece sertonin, or what it
meant exactly (when people were genuinely
interested), the
opportunities may slip him by. And as
with many JMU
students, the decision to
throw in a red herring or black sheep (in this
case Mamas Boy) is not
clever or enlightening, just highly irritating.
Christopher Yorke
Degree Show participants are
faced with the decision cull four years of
experience into one new presentation
or present items and objects that
represent a slower
progression through the institution. Yorke chose the
former a suite of film
stars/film stills painted in a peculiarly
Scottish-school style (almost
sharp but not quite, recognisable but with
glitches). De Nero from Taxi
Driver. Norton from Fight Club. Pop your head
round the door on a busy
opening night, scan the room, try to impress folk
as you reel off the names,
characters and movies and move on. But thatıs
missing the point. Yorke has
titled each work after a Saint. Itıs a nice
idea but is too standardly
and modestly presented (why are the labels the
same as everyone elses?) to
truly take the thrill away from that first peek
round the corner. Film
posters often promise much that the durational film
fails to deliver. The promise
in Yorkeıs work is everything but he needs to
work at sustaining that
moment.
Alan Dunn 12.6.03