Artistic Pleasure in Hackney
When the feeling ‘been there done that’ makes us restless, a change is necessary. As Oscar Wilde once said: “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
In the small Transition gallery in the middle of Hackney, hidden between the stockrooms of Regent Studios, a group of artists present their sexually sensitive range of sculptures, paintings, collages and photographs. Liane Lang, Sarah Gillham, Rachel Thorlby and Mindy Lee gather to reveal their creations in slightly perverse mood at their exhibition The Pleasure’s All Mine.
To some extent the intimate show does have a sexy vibe but it does not shock. Rachel Thorlby, prizewinner in the Celeste Art Prize, shows two of her sculptures After Ingres II and The Immortality Drive, which concentrate on curvy shapes along with the depiction of faces. After Ingres II compliments the female form. It has a motherly sentiment but echoes a child’s image, thus creating the connection in the eternal circle of life and death.
Liane Lang’s photograph The Sculptor’s Habit summarises the exhibition by revealing the creative process behind the sculpture. It shows the artist, apparantly naked, behind a torso of her latest work in a petite art chamber. The photograph describes the exhibition’s title The Pleasure’s All Mine by adding a visual image of the artists.
The exhibition inspires our primitive senses but necessarily flusters our mind. With only eight pieces it speaks to a narrow group but doesn’t disappoint. The grace and simplicity of the show indulges in an intimate conversation with the viewer explaining: “Things get more exciting when you say ‘Yes’!”
The Pleasure's All Mine, Transition Gallery, Unit 25a Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, London E8, 020 7254 4202, 07941 208566, www.transitiongallery.co.uk
14 Feb - 8 Mar.
