Kati Heck - Tip-Toe-Echo
Do NOT go to this show with an art historian. According to the gallery the works “take their cue from established tropes of art history” and while it’s somewhat interesting to learn that one of the works is based on a 1502 engraving by Albrecht Dürer, that’s an unhelpful fact when the original isn’t on display. I approached this exhibit in much the same way that I watch the Marvel movies: overwhelmed by the visual spectacle and completely oblivious to the Easter Eggs inserted for the hardcore fans. That’s a perfectly justified way to enjoy art, especially when it’s so rife with obvious silliness. So let’s start with the giant snail.
Carved out of wood and resting on a waist-high plinth, it’s the size of a dog and has a life sized human head — which I assume is the artist’s? — except long tentacles extrude from the eye sockets in a way that would be freaky were it not for it’s grinning smile. The head looks up at a moon hung high on the wall, but the tentacled eyes glance back over it’s shell. Is it looking at the paintings or being mindful of offspring? There are small ceramic snails crawling up the frames.
The paintings, eight of them, are hung on what appear to be cement monoliths connected by a low-rise wall that snakes around the gallery in a curvilinear pattern. The breaks between the works provide sight-lines through the structure, showing you both where it is headed and how it is made. It’s not cast concrete but a painted plywood frame. The literal façade is a playful illusion that continues the theme of visual tricks you’ll see in the imagery.
A mirror doesn’t reflect what’s actually in the frame. A woman’s arm is detached from her body, holding a pencil carved from a thorny flower stalk. A pigeon in a tree reads a book. The sight gags extend to a cardboard box on the floor, overflowing with rotting and worm-ravaged apples, all carved from wood.
Whatever these are referencing, and the gallery doesn’t say, seems to be moot. It’s pure visual folly. Be sure to lean in and read the brass titles. They’re one of the many details in each work that make me giggle and anticipate what’s next. Farther along the curved wall is a series of comic style panels. A Trump-like figure is flanked by the Klan. A Sesame Street vampire types in bed. The scenes are filled with recognisable characters in nondescript situations, and feel like neutered political cartoons.
Closer to the end you’ll see Adam & Eve, except the snake and the apple are missing, replaced with mysterious eyes that peer out at them from a darkened background. A long bench fronts this work, and indeed there are stools everywhere. I want to sit and study the art but I don’t dare, and neither do any of the others at the gallery during my visit. Not because the cushions are stained with paint spills, splotches and wipes. But because the catalog says they’re for sale.
Those stools, much like the wall that completely cuts off half of the gallery, are a fun and obvious reminder about art. It’s not functional, nor is it intended to be. It’s there to enjoy, to inspire, to excite or even enrage. Art can also be confusing. I still don’t know what most of these works might be referencing, but I don’t really care and I think that’s ok. If the backstory that impacted the artist was that important to convey then it would have, or should have, been written alongside the work.
The overall installation is one I won’t soon forget, but many of the works are just as strong in my memory. It was a clever manipulation of space without being detrimental to the art, utilising structure and flow that complemented and enhanced the works without overwhelming them or your experience. Nothing about the install will change the way you’d see the work if it was hung anywhere else, but it added new thoughts and nuance to whatever the artist was trying to say.
I left none the wiser, but very much inspired, occasionally befuddled and amused.
Plan your visit
‘Tip-Toe-Echo’ runs until 11 May.
Visit sadiecoles.com and follow @sadiecoleshq on Instagram for more info about the venue.
Visit the Wikipedia page for more info about the artist.
PLUS…
Check the What’s On page so you don’t miss any other great shows closing soon.
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