Hit up a few shows this week. The first was Soufiane Ababri at Space Studios. The installation is made up of a series of drawings; a chain of dancing figures painted directly on the wall; a sculptural form functioning as a barrier to restrict movement as well as a football enclosure; an audio piece of boisterously cheering football fans; and a macabre performance by three young men embodying characteristics of Holiday, Fashanu and Malcolm X. The exhibition’s central point are the 6 intimate and erotically explicit drawings entitled Beautiful Fruit, inspired by pornographic films of gay black men engaged in sexual acts with each other. The drawings attempt to dislodge the black body from tropes of blackness and hyper-masculinity, such as athleticism and animalism, which have been deeply inscribed by the Western heterosexual and racialised colonial gaze.
Next was Cell Project Space with Alan Michael’s Astrology and the City. It’s one of those shows of paintings that are nearly interesting but really the artist is just trying to find a thoughtful context for work they’ve already decided to make. The show is a series of paintings based on photographs of models hired from an agency who are documented wandering through central London, using clichéd formats of classical street-photography and fashion editorials as reference points.
After that we headed to IMT Gallery for a group show titled Chop Leisure. It’s an exhibition of ideas designed on much the same principles as present-day motorway junctions. Our favourite aspect was the focus on genre fiction and storytelling. As you enter the exhibition go immediately to the photo collage to greet the figure standing in front of it. The press release is very well written too – really takes you on a journey.
Finally, we had Ryder which felt pretty weird. At certain times during the exhibition, vocalists and performers transform the gallery into an immersive theatre of light and sound. Live voices activate space, producing a chorus that seems to emerge from a primitive instinct, atmospheric resonations that undulate like wind. Natural sounds and chants rise, articulating a transformation from state to state in a sonic ecosystem that is alive and active.
Actually, quite looking forward to looking round Frieze next week. Even though it’s not always the best place for art it’s quite fun all the same.
