Through the Looking Glass
Mall Galleries group shows tend to be filled with technically skilled but generally non-threatening art. They’re the polite and friendly prep school kid who always raises his hand, irons his socks and calls everyone sir and ma’am.
If you go into this show expecting more of the same you won’t be disappointed. There’s lots of innocuous art, most of it priced at introductory levels (e.g. under £500). But if you’re paying attention you’ll notice that Swanfall Art, who curated this exhibition, clearly has designs on a more experimental repertoire. They’re a relatively new entity, and I suppose this show represents their early teenage phase where that prep school kid starts to experiment with subtle signs of rebellion. Mismatched socks... unkempt hair… an anarchy button on the backpack.
Amongst 150+ works it’s the ones with an unconventional approach or street art inspired sense of whimsy that clearly stand out from the pack. Christine Lee’s (@rsh_leeo) painted clay & metal sculpture of a bow & arrow, precariously balanced on a waterdrop ledge. A porthole lightbox by Ilan Valdes (@ilanvaldes) grabs your attention with brightly lit psychedelic colours. Scott Bauer’s (@scottbaueruk) op-art might cause your eyes to cross too quickly and trigger an epileptic fit. He also gets my nod for best named work in the show: “Diminuendo in Blue’. Sticking with the main gallery — because most of the East Wing hang felt like an afterthought — I was also drawn to the purple pastures of Terra Rosa by Sylvia Igglesden (@syligg11), and the concrete cast of a Nokia Blackberry by Regular Concrete (@RegularConcrete).
Swanfall’s site says they received over 500 submissions and more than 1,200 entries of artwork, so I was a bit disappointed there weren’t more works that caught my attention. Then again, with this much on display it’s impossible for anyone to love everything, but there’s a wide enough range to ensure almost everyone will like something. There was, however, one wall that got me truly excited about Swanfall Art’s potential.
Six hung works, and two set on plinths, present a perfectly curated balance. It’s mostly mixed-media abstract, which might explain my enthusiasm, but each brings a unique statement to the ensemble. Earthly abstracts from Jyoti Bharwani (@paintspaces_studio) and Miao Tan (@_miaotan) offer a soothing contrast to the domestic interventions of Heliang Zhou’s (@zhou_heliang) used book baby bottles and Jon Storey’s (@jonstoreyartist) ‘Still Life V1 Concealed Leather Shoe’. They’re joined by four others and not a single piece overwhelms, yet each distinctly stood out in my mind long after I’d walked away.
Sometimes one wall is all you need.
Plan your visit
‘Through the Looking Glass’ runs until 02 September.
Visit mallgalleries.org.uk and follow @mallgalleries on Instagram for more info about the venue.
Visit swanfall.art and follow @swanfall_art on Instagram for more info about the curatorial & creative initiative behind the show.
🖼️ Want more art? Visit the What’s On page to see a list of recommended shows, sorted by closing date. Don’t miss ‘em!