The Common Guild, Glasgow until August 2nd
Four stars
It's the brightest and airiest of environments that have housed Hayley
Tompkins' floor-based
bird's-eye picture postcard views of holy-hued rainbows, high-rise
city-scapes, earth-bound stone formations, tranquil blue seas and
fog-bound multi-lane traffic surges thus far. Originally seen as part
of Scotland's contribution to Venice 2013 and now forming part of the
nationwide GENERATION programme, these off-the-peg images contained in
plastic trays play with the full light-and-shade spectrum of the Common
Guild's high-windowed town-house interior they've been reconfigured for
on the floor alongside an empty chair to take in the view. The painted
stick on the wall, half-consumed bottles of coloured liquid, fake
steaks, baguette and a plastic salad sandwich in the hall suggests the
left-over souvenirs of an off-piste picnic in some man-made
make-believe utopia.
Upstairs, newer works, on the wall this time, take a trippier approach,
with the looking-glass light-show swirls and poached egg shapes that
occupy the plastic trays giving them the feel of petri- dish
experiments in search of the most refreshing facsimile of authenticity
they can muster. Where these swirls might ooze, pulse and spit with
life, here they've been captured at their most vivid and preserved in
what, like any still life, is an approximated palette of living colour.
The close-up of a crush of oranges in the hallway isn't the only thing
that looks good enough to eat. Outside, meanwhile, seen on the clearest
of days, a false sun never dims.
The List, July 2014
ends
Four stars
It's the brightest and airiest of environments that have housed Hayley
Tompkins' floor-based
bird's-eye picture postcard views of holy-hued rainbows, high-rise
city-scapes, earth-bound stone formations, tranquil blue seas and
fog-bound multi-lane traffic surges thus far. Originally seen as part
of Scotland's contribution to Venice 2013 and now forming part of the
nationwide GENERATION programme, these off-the-peg images contained in
plastic trays play with the full light-and-shade spectrum of the Common
Guild's high-windowed town-house interior they've been reconfigured for
on the floor alongside an empty chair to take in the view. The painted
stick on the wall, half-consumed bottles of coloured liquid, fake
steaks, baguette and a plastic salad sandwich in the hall suggests the
left-over souvenirs of an off-piste picnic in some man-made
make-believe utopia.
Upstairs, newer works, on the wall this time, take a trippier approach,
with the looking-glass light-show swirls and poached egg shapes that
occupy the plastic trays giving them the feel of petri- dish
experiments in search of the most refreshing facsimile of authenticity
they can muster. Where these swirls might ooze, pulse and spit with
life, here they've been captured at their most vivid and preserved in
what, like any still life, is an approximated palette of living colour.
The close-up of a crush of oranges in the hallway isn't the only thing
that looks good enough to eat. Outside, meanwhile, seen on the clearest
of days, a false sun never dims.
The List, July 2014
ends
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