On from The Approach (and the Mile End Art Pavilion), on to the that corner on the Cambridge Heath Road and Bethnal Green’s Rose Easton Gallery to check out the two current shows in the still fairly recently expanded space in that rather curious industrial building where Rose Easton likes to hide.
Two more shows, one to the left, one to the right as you walk up those stairs. Which one first? I always find myself turning to the smaller of the two spaces first, do like the way that the rawness of that room hasn’t been messed with too much, it adds rather than distracts, kind of like the that Rose Easton font and the graphics that run through all the shows. Can’t say everything encountered in terms of the actual art exhibited in this space works, it does almost always challenge though, it always throws up a question or two.
Not really sure about this small Mirak Jamal exhibition that’s been occupying the the small of the two galleries since the third week of March. The Tehran-born Berlin-based artist who grew up in the USSR, Germany, the USA and Canada presents a selection of pieces, paintings that can be read in a number of ways should you wish to, question is, do you wish to? Do these pieces really want you to read them, to engage with them? Do we want to unfold the various narratives? Do those various explorations around scale and the architecture of it all really say anything? Do they want to? Does art have to engage? Do his habitats register as anything? Does his colour? Shall we turn left instead? how does all this end up in an old industrial building on an East London street anyway?
Over on the other side of the building, after a several hours of exploring East London’s Galleries and art spaces, the space afforded the work of Manon Wertenbroek‘s subtle pieces are almost a merciful relief, the minimal hang adds to the beauty of Wertenbroek’s art whatever the artist might with to convey here with these pieces(?) of bodies, with whatever might be said here. This is an exhibition that breathes, that flows, that allows you time. There are hints of the process with a couple of her sketches hanging in frames, not sure if I really want to look under the hood here there, I don’t really want to know about her process, her way of making these rather beautiful pieces, her thought process yes, the the practical look behind the curtain, no. Here’s another #43SecondFilm…
There is emotion here, tension maybe, a tension, surface tension certainly, beauty, you are longing to sneak a quick touch. Or is it all actually rather disquieting, these arrangements? disquieting celebration? Darkness on the perfectly white walls and just the right amount of space afforded each piece without detaching it from the rest of the pieces. Erotic? Unsettling? Calming? Inviting? Flesh as life, as death, as those things in between. An almost unsettling sense of something? Of vitality?
I guess we should read something into the title of the show, In guts and heads, but then it is surely better to read nothing and just experience this exhibition with no real idea, with no thought on what it might be. This is a show just to walk in on and be with, it really is perfectly hung, lit and presented, this is just the right place to see it, to experience it, to be with it, To be with the Swiss-Dutch artist’s (new) series of leather and glycerin sculptures that explores the body, skin, emotional projection and a lot more besides, to be with the tension between intimacy and discomfort of both her work and the viewing of it, the material of it all, the sensation(s).
This is a highly recommended exhibition and it might the prefect time and space to see the work, to experience Manon Wertenbroek’s beauty. (sw)
Rose Easton is at 223 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 0EL. The space is open Wednesday until Saturday, midday until 6pm. The Mirak Jamal exhibition is on until 9th May and the Manon Wertenbroek show until 25th April.
Recently at Rose Easton…
As always, do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…
THE ORGAN 