A unique concept and some remarkable work: Tom Jeffreys looks forward to the opening of SALON (LONDON) presents 'Secret'.
Knowledge, we're so often told these days, is a wonderful thing. Knowledge is power, progress, money. The pursuit of knowledge drives science and today's dogmatic adulation of it. Knowledge is the key. But sometimes there's more power in not knowing. Not knowing can be more interesting, exciting, challenging. Why paint anything if you know in advance what the painting will become. Why meet someone if you know them already? Why write if it's already pre-written?
Such thoughts, perhaps, flitted across the mind of critic, classicist and curator Crystal Bennes as she conceived the idea for SALON (LONDON) presents 'Secret', a solo show for young contemporary artist Noemie Goudal that opens next week in Clerkenwell. Or perhaps they didn't – I have no idea.
Anyway, the concept of the exhibition is an unusual one – Crystal bought a work from last year's RCA Secret (you know, that exhibition where you can buy artists' postcards but you don't know who they're by) and then challenged the artist she 'chose' to come up with a solo show. The artist selected turned out not to be Damien Hirst or Gerhard Richter (fortunately) but Noemie Goudal, who's recently graduated from the RCA with an MA in photography.
And so there's a sense of the unknown – both in the uncontrollable nature of the exhibition's conception, but also in the ethereally baffling work of Goudal herself. Crystal Bennes outlines the excitement of the unknown: “For purely selfish reasons, I suppose I was attracted to the idea of testing my abilities and my confidence as a curator. Would I really be able to pull off a great show just from a single, tiny piece of work amongst thousands? There’s always risk involved in putting together a new show, but the element of chance added something more. The possibility that I might pick a card and then the rest of that artist’s body of work would be horrible was terrifying, but also quite exciting. Then what would I do? Or if the card was by Emin or Hirst? Then what?”
So what was it, I wonder, that drew her to Noemie's work in the first place? “Well,” Crystal explains, ”I loved that in just one frame the card was able to conjure this whole world. The image on the card I chose was so mysterious: the girl confronts the viewer, at first glance you see a church, look again and it’s something different. I’m a sucker for an ambiguous narrative.”
But, as Crystal is quick to point out, “it is also just a beautiful piece of work. The lighting is excellent and the colours are wonderful – almost like a watercolour painting. Though I didn’t know it at the time, after I met Noemie I learned that she does all the set design as well as the photography. Remarkable.” I saw her work in the exhibition curated by Jotta at last year's Affordable Art Fair, and can vouch for this enthusiasm: her images are complex, layered and laden with latent with drama.
Crystal reckons that people should come see the show “because Noemie’s work is wonderful, of course, but because it demonstrates that conceptual projects don’t always have to be devoid of meaning and artistry.” Personally I can't wait – I think it looks like being one of the best solo shows in ages. But then, of course, I could well be wrong – you never know.
SALON (LONDON) presents 'Secret' is at 97 Clerkenwell Road from 6th June to 6th July 2010.
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