INTERFACE

REVIEW

Dawnbreakers

John Hansard Gallery, Southampton 27 April - 19 June

Reviewed by: Peter Bonnell »

'Dawnbreakers' is an exhibition inspired by transition in relation to irreverent fear, transition in light of technological advance, and a particular emphasis on transition from one era or mindset to another Although intellectually rigorous, 'Dawnbreakers' does not take itself entirely seriously; there are distinct inflections of playfulness and irony evident here. Take, for example, Neil Zakiewicz's steel fence, Still Here (2010) that surrounds John Edwards' permanent sculpture opposite the gallery entrance. Zakiewicz's intervention is highly provocative, dismissive even, in the cordoning off of Edwards' flower-like expressionistic work, but it is, I suspect, intended to be tongue in cheek.

Nonetheless, a highly disconcerting period in our recent history provides the overarching thesis to this exhibition: the run up to the turn of the Millennium, and the frenzy and fear associated with the 'Y2K' phenomenon. I remember it well; fear gripped the world, fear that computers - controlling all variety of mechanisms that we have come to rely on in our modern world - would once their internal clocks rolled over to the year 2000 read the '00' as the year 1900, sending themselves into shutdown mode; planes would fall out of the sky, power stations would go into meltdown. All seemed lost. Thankfully (and rather obviously) these fears of catastrophe were proved ungrounded. Was it an elaborate hoax, a plot to sell software packages to protect our computers, or a sinister plan by supermarkets to sell tinned food and bottled water to conspiracy theorists? Juan Bolivar correctly pinpoints this period as being an acute example of shared irrational mass hysteria, a 'fin de siecle' moment; a sense of dread as we were dragged from our homely and comfortable twentieth century, kicking and screaming into the shiny, modern and unknown uplands of the twenty-first.

Paranoia and unease at the pace of modern progress is a weighty concept on which to hang an exhibition idea, but Bolivar stresses in the exhibition notes that the 'Y2K' phenomenon is to be considered as a backdrop and inspiration to this exhibition. This undercurrent of gravity is, however, complemented by a traditionalistic air running through much of the work in 'Dawnbreakers', embodied by one of the sub-tenets to Bolivar's thesis for this show, that "these artists negotiate the heritage and tradition of 'the artist's hand' within an unfolding new age". Strange, though, that this claim is curiously underplayed further on in the gallery notes, with a suggestion that the works in 'Dawnbreakers' do not "illustrate" the difference between analogue and digital; this is true in a sense, but many of the selected works do actually appear to point to, or infer, the notion of a tacit technological advancement and progress. Take Ruth Claxton's sculptural works: the placement of manipulated ceramic figurines on highly polished, futuristic-looking chrome and mirror constructions is, to my mind, a deliberate juxtaposition of old and new techniques. Shezad Dawood's sculptures of neon signs encased in dry, brittle tumbleweeds in pristine acrylic vitrines further reinforce this view. Of course, describing the work of Claxton and Dawood, and all of the other artists included in 'Dawnbreakers', in simple terms of new versus the old is a little facile, as subject matter is crucial; but a purely aesthetic evaluation cannot be completely discounted.

In fact, the sheer number of artists included in this exhibition results in a game of connect the aesthetic dots, almost as a short-hand to and from each naturally differing practice. Twenty-two artists have been gathered together for 'Dawnbreakers', working in a wide range of media, styles and ideas resulting in a gently rambling exhibition of works that teeter incongruously on the precipice, but heroically manage to sit together well. Disconcertingly refreshing is the fact that few video works are featured in 'Dawnbreakers', a brave choice considering the ubiquity of video art at biennales the world over. Works that embrace the very act of making, of assembling, feature throughout, and it is painting that dominates - perhaps no surprise considering that Bolivar is himself a recognised painter It is heartening to see so many painters selected, although, even in the case of the deliberately manicured paintings of Zebedee Jones, there is preponderance to the slick, the hard-edged, in the handling of paint that leaves a frisson of a chill in the air. This particular curatorial preference enhances the dichotomy of 'old versus the new', but it doesn't always convince. Boo Ritson's slathering of her models with household paint is too much of a stylistic wheeze; Ian Monroe's use of vinyl and aluminium in his 2D works is really quite lovely, but also curiously empty. Yet within all this a particularly startling, expertly painted canvas by Richard Wathen, entitled Aubrey (2007), neatly encapsulates much of the curatorial direction. This painting shows an androgynous, alien-like young boy naked and gazing outwards, somewhat awkwardly, at the viewer It is a work given a prominent position in the second gallery space and although by no means the strongest work in the show it neatly conjures up a definite sense of undefined unease.

Ultimately I'm left wondering if the fear Bolivar is attempting to quantify is really a fear of both the lasting relevance of the artist, and particularly those who actually 'fabricate' (the 'artist's hand') in the face of technological advancement. Perhaps the underlying unease here is understandable considering how digital artworks and social networking sites are seen now as the potential new outriders of art-making activity, which Bolivar refers to in his catalogue essay. But, none of the artists here are, in a literal sense anyway, 'Dawnbreakers'. They don't embody a new age of discovery or a pivotal point in the way in which we view the world about us - or, if they did, they're ten years too late. And, although we are not now living in an 'end of century' type of event, haven't we always lived on the verge of approaching catastrophe? 'Dawnbreakers' succeeds in positioning the artists selected not as outriders for 'tomorrow's world', but in celebrating how artists 'make' today in face of an onslaught of...well, pixellated paint and iPads.

Writer detail:
Exhibitions and Education Officer at ArtSway.

Venue detail:
John Hansard Gallery »
University of Southampton, Highfield, SOUTHAMPTON SO17 1BJ

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