Damien Hirst, origami and Kelly Brook's breasts - Kate Weir on Image to Object at Red Gate Gallery.
Recently, whilst watching Piranha 3D, I pondered several issues: firstly and most importantly, why am I watching this? Secondly, Jesus, 3D norks are huge; and lastly, what – if anything – exists in the space between the two dimensional and three dimensional? (Well, the plot was rather slight, and my mind tends to wander...)
In film, 3D is introduced to internalise the experience further – a palliative immersion in alternative reality, like relaxing into a lovely, piranha-infested hot-tub – so the transition from 2D is seamless, yet spectacular and surreal. 3D art, on the other hand, is an active experience, offering the viewer a multitude of perspectives and meanings to engage with, sometimes literally; whilst painting identifies largely as contemplative. But is there some artistic space 'in between' where striking visuals and form meet in some uncanny valley, like the breasts of Kelly Brook? It's this which the exhibition Image to Object at Red Gate Gallery (curated by Daisy McMullan and Yara Tschallener) attempts to find out, challenging 2D and 3D forms using a range of disparate media and a middle ground that is anything but a compromise.
It's fascinating how the artists have interpreted this challenging brief. Whether literally, such as Frank Pohlmann's retro, stereoscopic image Emergence; in a futurist style, such as sculptor Jacek Wankowski’s piece Case 6 – Small Gatherers (Chelicerata acari), which looks like steel origami from an alien craft; or interactive like Preservation and Decay, Sue Skitt's scented test tubes from which the art diffuses into the air. Pieces featuring colour therapy, alchemy and a Magritte-esque apple clock installation harness the psychological potential of the transitional theme, whilst paper-cut foliage and Bauhaus-style, Op Art font prints take inert materials such as canvas and paper and turn them into items which are fragile, bold and altogether more experiential.
A significant trait of the show is the viewer’s emotional investment in the pieces, whether this comes from direct interaction, a targeted emotional response, or simply a collision in a public space. It takes a cue from the material ingenuity of earlier works like Alastair Mackie’s bee-husk dolls' houses and Damien Hirst’s pickled creatures – both instances where form and substance are perverted), without the lofty rhetoric; and entails the playfulness and audience involvement of Felix Gonzalez Torres’ hard-candy installation Untitled (Placebo - Landscape - for Roni).
Image to Object’s mix of accessible ideas and participatory 3D forms validates both modes of production and the space in between as credible and emotional, even without waggling a narrative (or a murderous piranha) in your face. It's a fine mix of curios and bold and beautiful statements in an intriguingly investigative show.
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