Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2009

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2009

10 November, 2009
by: Tom Jeffreys

Sponsored since 2000 by Bloomberg, New Contemporaries seeks to provide an opportunity for the nation's most talented young art hopefuls to exhibit their work outside the confines of the college or university environment. This year, 47 artists have been selected from over 1,000 submissions by a panel of judges comprising Ellen Gallagher, Saskia Olde Wolbers, John Stezaker and Wolfgang Tillmans: New Contemporaries is very much an artist-led enterprise.

Given the youth of the artists involved in the exhibition at Rochelle School in Bethnal Green, it's something of a surprise to see such calmness, maturity and formal prowess. There is very little shouting here, as technique and careful consideration are prioritised over the instant kick: the whole thing is very much symptomatic of a new (and much welcome) direction in the wider contemporary art world. Many of the works are also very small.


Frances Blythe, 'Untitled 2 & 3 Series 2', inkjet print, 2008

Although this is ostensibly an unthemed group show, there are certain trends to be observed. An exploration of the uncanny is noticeable, and there's also a strong focus on suburbia, which is logical given the well-established links between the two. Frances Blythe presents intimate little black and white photos of the exterior of various houses – is he the Peeping Tom of Surbiton? Similarly, in his large-scale photo-etchings, Andrew Curtis has somehow managed to take the monkey puzzle tree – that emblem of the blandly residential – and turn it into something intimidating.

There's something ever so subtly unsettling about Nick Smith's empty photos – where is the art referenced in the titles? Francis Mason references Rachel Whiteread in his use of concrete, but his mixed media works are less monumental, more incidental. They don't seek to make claims beyond themselves. And I like Joanna Piesniewski's super-dull urban landscapes. You keep searching for some slick conceptual twist, but nope. Nothing.

This is a highly formal show, with several artists examining not so much the image, but the production of the image. Anna MR Freeman paints over a wooden picture frame, Adam Bainbridge blurs his drawings between dreams and photographs, and Marco Palmieri examines the relationship between texture and geometry in his oil on linen on panel paintings. I love the intricate pencil drawings of Peiyuan Jiang – particularly P114. It's witty, elegant and supremely skilful.


Freya Wright, 'Too Good A Mind', oil on linen, 2009

Barbara Wolff's Evening on Matador is the most obviously ambitious work – a huge photographic piece, with resin and a burned-through rug hanging below. It's strangely enchanting. And I'm also fascinated by David Price's surreal, quasi-religious fantasy etchings. Clever composition draws one in to these exciting, dynamic worlds only to realise that effective navigation has been ultimately thwarted. There is not enough information – there is too much information.

For me, the exhibition's highlight is a series of tiny little oils by Freya Wright. They're perhaps what might happen if Henry James was reborn today as a painter. Depicting what appear to be retro film-stills – is that the famous staircase shot from Hitchcock's brilliant Frenzy? – these detailed little works drag you inside with the promise of intrigue, a promise that is never quite clearly delivered. Playing also on formal ideas of representation and reality, these are tense, taught works, and utterly captivating.

Bloomberg New Contemporaries is at Rochelle School until 20th December 2009.

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Tom Jeffreys