Sunday, May 31, 2009






Mike Harrison's Stasis opened May 28th.

Stasis is a dramatic installation comprising of 194 suspended toy soldiers (one for each country of the world) suspended in 'Stasis' above a black terrain. 'This exhibition is not a protest of war, but an artistic representation of the way we are all tied together', Mike explains, 'Stasis is the suspension of time; a permanent point in history.' Running alongside the suspended soldiers is the poignant video image of a 'soldier' amid a desolate landscape. He too seems in a state of Stasis, neither victorious or defeated, his clenched hands and vacant stare are the indicators of his state of mind.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tender Things






























Paul Compton's 'Tender Things' opened April 30th with a great number of people crowding into our tiny space.
Paul's images make you laugh quietly and sigh loudly; intricately drawn with tiny pen and brushstrokes they are painfully familiar and inevitably cynical.
Six ink portraits greet you as you enter the gallery. They are tender depictions of friends, elegant and gentle, and a self portrait is nestled among the group.
On the shelves, four artist books are on display. Fallacies on Parade, Sombre Rainbow (pictured), Tender Things(pictured); a leather bound 10 page tea and coffee stained concertina book of fine ink drawings and Everyday Tragedies(pictured); a tattooed, leather bound tome of text and images. Also featured are Paul's Thaumatropes, old worldly optical illusions, mythic and darkly themed. The Ouija Board Spells Out: See you soon is the final piece; a morbidly kitsch Ouija board ---not that every Ouija board isn't morbidly kitsch!. Two of Paul's books (Fallacies on Parade and Everyday Tragedies) are available as zines or mooks (the first time I have heard this term but not the last time I will use it!) making it possible for all to take home and relish a piece of his work.