Being a West London girl, Deptford is a little far out of my comfort zone. However with the news that über culture tsar Jefferson Hack was spotted at a gig in the south east and the lure of discovering an up and coming artist, I boarded the DLR with trepidation. My attention was first grabbed when I noticed an upcoming show for artist Adam Latham, whose grotesque figures and comic book style translate into retro 'zine covers, by way of seventies album art, channelling the insalubrious pen of R. Crumb. Add to this sparkly curtains and a gallery inside a pub no less, and you have yourself a show which, on paper, sounds like critical manna.
Alas this proved to be a classic case of an exhibition promising a carnival and turning up with a geriatric organ grinder and a dead monkey. The advert for the exhibition showed two of Latham's drawings; fantastically grisly and snide pastiches of travel brochures (showing starving Ethiopians with the slogan 'If you don't like where you live you should move') and a fifties Hawaiian Tropic girl imagined by someone who's only ever seen a woman in a water-damaged porn cartoon, alongside some high falutin' talk about sparkly curtains.
However, on arrival at the gallery, my excitement collapsed like a bunny in an electrical storm as I walked into something akin to a Phoenix Nights' fete day. Present were Latham's two paintings which, it has to be said are even more striking in the flesh. But the rest of the room appeared to have been decorated by someone with violent lametta vomit. Latham has taken the cultural signifiers of game shows and the props of manufactured hope and recreated them to show just how little they offer. The lametta curtains (buffeted by a fan) move and shimmer in the breeze, never revealing what is behind them but eliciting the kind of curiosity and potential that has made Deal or No Deal a mind-numbing success. This is further reinforced by a display of celebratory flowers, music from South Pacific and the two images which offer a warped and nightmarish take on promised lands.
The theme is solid and in a larger gallery or with a little more visual stimulus it could be an interesting study of humanity's love for 'the mystery box' and all things shiny. But I felt short-changed as I had expected to see more of Latham's painting and graphic work. For an artist to exhibit two very promising works within a weak installation is frankly cockteasing the audience. Perhaps this is a wily tactic; I would certainly travel as far to go to one of Latham's shows again, if there was a promise of new work. However I would proceed with caution. There's only so much excitement a girl can take, and if Latham doesn't deliver again, his sparkly curtain with its empty promises may become a strangely prophetic analogy.
Keen for more? See more about:
London Art
London Exhibitions
London Events
Add an event
Mac DeMarco, East End Live and Bleached: Editor's Choice - Live Music.jpg)
Tuesday 21st MayMac DeMarco @ The Garage Mac DeMarco // "My Kind of Woman" by capturedtrac...