Michael Andrew Page – Claustrum at Project Native Informant, Bethnal Green, East London, January 2024 – Did say the other day, whilst engaged in the frustration of trying to find positive things to say about Condo 2024, or at least the bit we extensively explored before giving up on the whole damn thing, a thing that besides Marfa’ Projects showing of a number of rich oil paintings on the walls of the small annex space at The Approach – the work of  artist Talar Aghbashian – a thing that offered very little. did say that the Michael Andrew Page exhibition Claustrum at Project Native Informant was probably the best thing we encountered on that busy first day of following the Condon route and  a dozen or so Saturday afternoon galleries. The Michael Andrew Page exhibition is not part of Condo although Project Native Informant are involved in Condo at their Three Colt Lane space in Bethnal Green where they’re hosting two galleries; Gianni Manhattan (Vienna) and P21 Seoul and well, photos of cats and a painting or two (and a cat bat) that we’ll pass on in terms of commenting further. 

The Michael Andrew Page exhibition is, as that guy from No Parking might say, ‘intriguing’, and yes that can be a catch-all cop-out of a thing to say, but in this case it really is intriguing. Tents as stained glass? It isn’t immediately obvious, but then when it does suddenly click then it very much is. 

Michael Andrew Page’s ongoing series Bivvy makes use of the eponymous single person dwelling as the starting point for each painting. Through a complex series of analogue and digital processes the humble tent is transformed into something that resembles stained glass, more rooted in a gothic vernacular; worthy of spiritual contemplation.

It isn’t really about the technique or the process, I mean it probably is to the artist, but do we  really care how he got to the point where the work was ready to hang on the walls? Surely it is all about the (intriguing) results actually hanging in the very white very clean rather cold clinical walls of the recently opened space? Michael Andrew Page is using architecture as a means to explore abstraction, and if you really want to know then apparently he “painstakingly transcribes architectonic components typical of found bivvy structures into the architectural software programme CAD. These are then multiplied and manipulated to produce a 3D model, which forms the basis for his compositions. The initial image is transferred from CAD to canvas via the photographic method of cyanotype, after which, Page adds layers upon layers of oil paint in a slow meditative process, a monastic reverie if you will” – I really don’t need or want to know any of that,  I don’t really care about the software he used, I really really don’t! What I do care about is the art on the wall and yes, maybe after a dozen or so galleries and the annoyance of Condo and the rest of it I might have be grasping at straws, but Page’s art really was intriguing (intriguing enough to make me go back and check before commiting anything to paper or in this case confounded computer screen) 

Claustrum, the title of Page’s second solo show at Project Native Informant has a multitude of meanings: “a hidden place/hidden away”, “draw near to”, “a portion of a monastery closed off to the laity”. Taken together, these definitions provide a useful way of analysing the key concerns of Page’s practice. The more one tries to decode the fractal-like geometry of Page’s compositions, the less the structures reveal themselves. Lines disintegrate, light refracts and space collapses.

I saw architecture investigated, architecture as repeat, architecture as pattern, I didn’t see fractal-like flavours and yes we are dancing around the buildings again and I really wasn’t feeling a need to decode anything rather than just enjoy the shapes, the repeats, the stained glass of the tents, the almost textile designs and when you do look further into the structure, the painterly movement within the layers of the work, the almost abstraction of it all. These are pieces that draw you in, that demand your time, you contemplation, your enjoyment and ultimately the challenge of Michael Andrew Page and his art. I rather liked this show, not part of Condo but it made the exploring on Condo (and a subsequent return) worth it. (sw)

Project Native Informant is found at Units 1 and 3, 48 Three Colts Lane, London E2 6GQ, Right at the end of Herald Street and the gallery of the same name, you’ve actually got a number of galleries clustered together there now. Opening hours, Wednesday – Saturday Midday until 6pm. The Michael Andrew Page exhibition runs until February 17th 

Andas always, please click on an image to see the whole thing or run the slide show…