Kate Weir pays a visit to St John's Wood and comes up with the best penis pun ever.
On entering the Exteriority group sculpture exhibition, held in a chic private residence in St John's Wood and curated by the Sumarria Lunn team, you're first greeted by a disembodied pair of trousered legs emerging from a wall, which on closer inspection sport a bulging erection (Littlewhitehead’s disturbingly named She Did Look Quite Young). It’s clear from this point onwards that any ideas of Henry Moore elegance or Dame Barbara Hepworth grandeur are to be left at the custom-wrought gate. This garden party is anything but upper crust, with a tree branch shaped like an elephant phallus (Elephant Totem II (Song for a Phallus) by Douglas White), a half buried grandma (Gladys by Littlewhitehead) and a cage for women (Space for a Woman II by Victoria Rance). If Rodin believed that sculpture was the art of ‘the hole and the lump’, then Exteriority leaves you wondering exactly what that lump might be.
The mind boggles. With this exhibition, Sumarria Lunn posit the theory that outdoor sculpture still adheres to formalist styles and lags behind art history trends, and although I might argue that Banksy, Anthony Gormley, Marc Quinn and Rachel Whiteread are just some of the artists whose work has forged new boundaries in outdoor adornment, it's true that outdoor sculpture outside of the public art sphere could perhaps do with some dusting off.
Here, a mixture of organic forms and durable, modern, repurposed materials give urbanites a different option from po-faced, cherubic water features. Take, for example, James Ireland’s steel and ‘branch’ sculpture, Special Relationship, or Douglas White’s Black Palm, a tree made entirely of ‘exploded tire parts’ (something I’m sure I’ve seen adorning many a Brixton front garden before…) Many works bring to mind Czech sculptor David Cerny’s infamous wit: Littlewhitehead’s sculptures reference rubbernecking news reports, and bring an anarchic black humour to the show.
The exhibition also excels in its curation. James Ireland’s deceptively simple You get What You Desire, You Take All That You Can, You Wait For No One plays with the perspective of the space, disorienting the viewer and placing them within a sleek grotto, the mirrors and coloured screens distorting the natural surroundings, and turning an organic environment into a bite-sized metropolis straight from the steel tundras of Blade Runner. Conversely, Douglas White’s Black Palm is camouflaged against the foliage and only revealed to be a sculpture on closer inspection.
The residence’s modernist surroundings, with manicured lawns, geometric goldfish ponds and a plethora of glass and aluminium accents bestow a air of esteem upon even the elephant’s phallus (quite a feat…) and turn the garden into a treasure hunt of contemporary art. Even if I do find myself mistakenly critiquing the conceptual patio furniture at one point...
In another space the work would become a different beast altogether: boner-fied legs (a snip at £3,000) might make a less salubrious garden accoutrement than, say, a gnome. But as a whole this show pumps some life into the outdoor form with a lot of class and an irresistibly wicked sense of humour.
Exteriority is on at a private residence in St John's Wood until 24th October 2010. Viewing is by appointment only.
Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here for things to do in London.
Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...