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

1990’s 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 Mama’s 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

 

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