New Sensations 2009

Tom Jeffreys

New Sensations 2009

09 October, 2009
by: Tom Jeffreys

Has even the great Charles Saatchi been affected by the recession? Last year's opening for the Saatchi Gallery / Channel 4 New Sensations exhibition featured a veritable deluge of Veuve Clicquot at the Old Truman Brewery. Needless to say, I got stuck in with gusto. But this year's opening – at Rochelle School in Bethnal Green – was an altogether more sober affair (although the wine – provided by Fergus Henderson's St John – was above average).

But while the recession has had an adverse effect on free booze quantities, it's had the opposite effect on the actual art on show. Tough times often result in a realisation of the importance of technique, as glib conceptualism begins to grate – 'That joke isn't funny anymore', as Morrissey once observed.

I like Richard Cook's graphically composed photographic works with their contrast between nature's roundness and the hard edges of human involvement. Mikhak Mirmahmoudi's explorations of travel in days gone by are both engaging and witty, whilst Tim Ellis' Japanese antiquity thing is nicely done. I think his work would show better if there was more of it.


Nick Goss, 'Domino Foyer', Oil on Canvas 2009

But for me, three artists really stand out, but only one of them makes it into the final 4-person shortlist for the prestigious prize. That is RA Schools graduate Nick Goss, one of the hot young things of the contemporary art world. Thankfully, the work justifies the hype. On show are two paintings, both of which demonstrate the artist's mastery of scale, and the illusory qualities that expertly handled paint can possess.  These are multi-layered, subtly nuanced works that reward prolonged engagement.

I also really like Ryan Leigh's works. Recently graduated from Wimbledon, Leigh splices drawing, photography, bits of graph paper and collaged materials to create witty and engrossing little works. There's something of William Blake in Leigh's clash of the systemic with the individual, as well as a clear fascination with medieval science and its proximity to mysticism – all tarot cards, humours, pentangles and astrolabes. Parish churches meet planets in an exploration of the hazy realms between religion and occultism, and between science and quackery.


Laura Culham, 'Untitled (Common Moths)', Paper 2009

But my favourite work on show is by Falmouth graduate Laura Culham. Culham, for me, epitomises the beginnings of a new direction in contemporary art, a path being cleared by the likes of Laura Oldfield Ford, Tessa Farmer and, to a lesser extent, Abigail Reynolds and Sarah Bridgland. There's an increased recognition of the importance of detail and process. Specificity – temporal and geographical – matters, as does nature. But really it's about time – the time involved in creation and the time involved in critical engagement.

Wing of a Seagull, After Dürer is an exquisitely detailed study of a bird's wing, one of those works that dazzles with technical skill and reassures those who occasionally worry that young artists don't know how to draw anymore! The real show-stealer though is Untitled (Common Moths). It consists of seven tiny white paper moths mounted in a box on the wall. The detail is a wonder, the creation process presumably an excruciating one. What I love is the lack of bombast: there's a quiet, almost humble, confidence. Culham's work is a celebration of detail, and of the observational skills needed to create and appreciate that detail. It's beautiful to behold.

New Sensations 2009 is at Rochelle School until 18th October 2009.

Click here to read Tom's interview with 2007 New Sensations winner, Sarah Maple.

Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here to see all London art exhibitions.
Click here for things to do in Bethnal Green.

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