Swiftly disenchanted
The fantastical figures of Crombie’s dark and disturbing exhibition
‘Uses of Enchantment’ is unhelpfully described in the Artweeks brochure as an exhibition of new paintings by the artist Jan Crombie. In fact, it is an exhibition of paintings with a sound installation for added atmosphere. The idea came from the writings of a psychologist, Bettleheim, and his theories regarding the use of fairy tales as pathways to facing and resolving anxieties; and also from the 1946 Jean Cocteau film La Belle et La Bête.
Crombie’s paintings are brightly coloured • red, white and black feature prominently. The paintings themselves are made up of large, bold image, intended as a reference to the oversize world of the theatre. The characters from the fairy tale are drawn as part human, part toy, an effect which only adds to the discomfort of the exhibition. The sound installation is loud and creepy; eerie sounds and snippets of harsh French.
Each painting has a blackboard painted on to it to capture notes that couldn’t be shown in the picture • although with things as diverse as diagrams of heavy artillery and the phrase ‘toujours la meme’ scribbled repeatedly, these do not help in understanding the paintings or the exhibition as a whole. This is the problem with the exhibition. It is incredibly difficult to understand what it is trying to say, beyond gaining a sense of unease.
The room is small and the canvasses are large (although apparently designed to fit in this space), which makes the whole thing feel compressed. However, given the inspiration • Bettleheim refers to his own use of Hansel and Gretel to endure his suffering in concentration camps • perhaps the sense of discomfort is the feeling that I am meant to come away with.
Jan Crombie’s Uses of Enchantment is on display at the Jacqueline du Pre Building, at St Hilda’s College The fantastical figures of Crombie’s dark and disturbing exhibition until 5 June
26th May 2005