Contiguity
Sharing an Edge - Helen Martin, Alistair Cartwright, Sam Rendle Short, Ben Turner
Demnants Cottage, Christ Church, 11th-18th November 2005
Sharing an edge was a modest exhibition of work by four 1st year students at the Ruskin. The show took place within an unused room in Demant’s cottage, at Christ Church. The exhibition guide comes with an essay by Sam Rendle Short, one of the students displaying his work. In it he discusses the theme explored in the show, contiguity. “…The sharing of an edge or boundary, or touching. An ordinary but amazing idea. Delicate but brutal; vast but tiny.
And one which questions the very boundaries and limitations of our existence. And what it means to share it.” The notion of an exhibition at Christ church could conjure the idea of fairy cake architecture and ostentatious artwork, yet I was pleasantly surprised by these four artists understated eloquence and subtle, yet ingenious use of space.
The exhibition was full of surprises from a secret door concealed within the brick wall to a sculptural structure precariously balanced high above our heads. Rushing into the show I almost missed everything, until the steady pace of the other viewers blocking my way in the narrow and restricted area forced me to slow down and take a closer look. The space, once stable houses, was unusual and a great departure from the archetypal “white-cube gallery”.
The delicate intricacy of the work on show reflected the intimate nature of the place it was displayed in. The artists produced sensitive pieces, each in a state of perpetual balance on the brink of collapse. Handmade cardboard boxes stacked so unevenly appeared to be held together with a single piece of string and an intricate sculpture with bamboo literally hung from an ornate metal vent in the wall.
Carefully placed shoes and insoles, including a pair of worn brown loafers somehow conjured an array of forgotten memories and a familiarity I could not place. The self-contained area felt almost enormous due to the economical use of space; for once my attention was not wasted with irrelevant information leaving me able to appreciate every detail. The divided and considered space was so full of serendipity.
Even cobwebs draped from the windows and littered with various insect corpses were beautiful. They captured dismembered butterfly wings, which by some incredible coincidence matched perfectly with a playful amber wax sculpture in the window. By the close of the private view casually discarded wine glasses contrasted with the carefully balanced milk bottles on the wall and I could not help but notice an increased sensitivity to my surroundings for the remainder of the evening.
17th Nov 2005