Marc-Aurele Debut’s Cornered over at Bomb Factory in Holborn (London WC2) demanded a rush over from the busy shows of Whitechapel, thankfully there is the Lizzy Line, straight out of Working Girls at Gallery 46 and over to Bomb Factory’s Holborn space. The imagery on social media along with the text from Bella Bonner-Evans had me curious, and previous encounters with Marc-Aurèle Debut’s work was enough to demand time is made to head over there after Gallery 46 rather than heading back to the studio and paint some more. Cornered is a solo exhibition by Marc-Aurele Debut, the accompanying Text by Bella Bonner-Evans read “For many years, gay sex has created private spaces amid public ones : cruising spots, where fleeting intimacy is simultaneously concealed and revealed. In these darkened corners – bathroom stalls, tube stations, secluded parks – some unsheathe a truer self, revelling in the freedom afforded, while for others a sickening self-loathing begins to thicken the blood and tighten the chest with every subsequent encounter. Marc-Aurèle Debut’s solo exhibition Cornered at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation is imbued with the aftertaste of such experiences. The works on show evoke both a swelling of desire and an aroma of fear, weaving together threads of violence, carnality, tenderness and shame to confront the viewer with the very emotions anonymous intimate encounters engender while reflecting on contemporary gay culture in London.”

Just about made it, although the last of the cheap red wine has just been poured. Marc-Aurèle Debut (b. 1990) is a French artist working and living in London, there’s lot of black tape in here, black tape and chains, body shapes, lots to read into a rather minimal show – minimal is an observation, certainly not a complaint, like the way this show is hung, like the flow, the way it fits together and those shapes in the black tape are intriguing, deliciously so. Rather like the Working Girl exhibition we were at half hour ago, we’re confronted with questions or maybe more the artist’s take rather than questions that flow around the cultural and psychological complexities of sexuality. There’s something here, the physical space explored, the textures, the shapes in the tape, the chains, the personality of it all, the personal nature of it all – yes I know most art is personal and well Bella has pretty much said it (thank you Bella) and the photos kind of tell it and yes, well worth the rush over from Whitechapel and on it all goes, the none stop need for art and the never ending reward of it all, all there right under your nose…   (sw) 

The Bomb Factory is found at 99 Kingsway, WC2B 6QX (don’t mix it up with the Covent Garden Bomb Factory space). The gallery is open Wednesdays to Saturdays, Midday until 6pm, the exhibition runs from 26th July until 25th August 2024

As we always say, click on an image to see the full photograph or to run the slide show…