KEY POINTS:
Food for philosophical discussion or bright vivid display, this week's offerings raise all sorts of questions about art. Work, of a kind admired in certain quarters for what is considered profundity of thought, is The Estate of L. Budd, an exhibition at the Michael Lett Gallery until May 17. L. Budd was one of the personas adopted by an artist who prefers to be nameless or to be part of the collective known as et al.
The works in this show are not concerned with the obsequies of L. Budd but the legacy left behind by the eponymous artist. It is an odd legacy: grey, dirty, tatty and sad.
Like many legacies, elements are in dispute. The show is an elaborate charade and the most approachable work, it is suggested, may not be by L. Budd at all. It is called disputed (et al)/ National Park (sorry)/ 2008 and is made of: wood, cork, tarpaulin, Perspex, paper, speaker, rock, amplifier, rubber, fabricated trolley, foam, a found image and acrylic paint.
All these things are assembled as a glass case on a trolley. The found image is a long photographic panorama of a national park. Its length suggests the length of life. In front of the panorama is a stone of memory placed on plain blocks of foam that suggest a flat, dead life. The speaker gives out unintelligible messages like Big Brother or God. The case has tarpaulin on top as protection and, on the tray beneath the glass case, are cork sanding blocks which, in their own way, suggest how memories are rubbed out.
The whole thing is covered with unlovely grey paint. It may represent the legacy of a life but, unlike the work of Joseph Beuys whose manner it emulates, it has no hint of human endeavour, comfort or wider vision. It's a sneer at life and art.
Clearly attributed to L. Budd are two awnings. One is outside the gallery and the other, hidden at the back, has a grimy outer side with calculations that lead nowhere and an inner side where the canvas is fresher and brighter. It works on the old theme of youth and age but even the youthful side has ragged holes.
It is all part of an elaborate game about legacies in art and life but has little visual interest and is close to ridiculous in its sheer banality.
Another exhibition that makes use of found materials and sits somewhere between art and nature is the work of Tim Hawkinson who comes to us from the United States where he is prominent enough to have had a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney in New York. His show Scout is at the Gow Langsford Gallery until May 16.
There are four main pieces in the show and, like the work of many artists this century, they show no uniformity in style. Most impressive is Foot Quilt, a huge piece of silver polyester fabric elaborately stitched to show the whorls on the sole of a gigantic foot.
Equally gigantic is the scrotum on the figure work that gives its name to the show. The figure has huge hands and is made from cardboard boxes with the lettering still on them, stitched together with bits of tape. It certainly conjures up a vision of all the scouts that ever were in the Wild West. It is grotesque, funny and absolutely unforgettable, despite being headless.
Nature and device come together in Deposition which is a peeled branch supporting a little mechanism that toots a penny whistle like some strange, still bird. The exhibition is the work of a maker of marvellous things that are neither fish, fowl nor red herring but a bit of all of that with a note of humanity stirred in.
There is an element of banality in the work of Josephine Do at the Lane Gallery until May 3, but also direct human interest and more visual appeal. The show, called Women Branded with the Beijing Olympic Mascots, continues her exploration of the lives of women factory workers in China. They are shown in the grim accommodation they share or in their dull workplace, all clutching the little panda doll associated with the Olympic Games.
The mood is emphasised by an overlay of painting that goes much further than the artist's previous work with a boost in subtlety and emotional intensity. The branding refers not only to the little doll symbols but also the inflictions on the women and their life.
Consistently stylish display marks Global Garden by Sally Tagg at Soca Gallery until April 28. Many of these works are large circular photographs of arrangements of flowers and foliage. The colour goes beyond the vividness of nature and owes much to the loaded tints of modern inks. Yet nature is always present - these circles are like the leaves on a tree. Every element is exactly the same but different in some small way. This is particularly noticeable in the rings of flax flowers where the variants seem infinite or in the piece entitled Ginkgo where the faded grace of the primitive leaves makes a pattern of great charm although much less dramatic than most of the work.
The circular form which is not natural in itself adds to the appeal of these spectacular works because the circle has always been considered to have ritual and magic properties. The sense of order and symmetry and of an obscure magic is one of the elements that shift these pieces from display into the realm of art. It is a very attractive exhibition.
