This review sent to me by Lizza:

I did a sprint around some galleries this morning. There's nothing like art to make me sprint. I'd be so fit I lived in New York, cos I could put on my sweatband and sprint through the Metropolitan Museum every morning.

My first pause was at Joao, where the current show is by Justin Anschutz. Justin's been involved for years in a dedicated craft-based exploration which one can see the effects of in this body of work which consists of paintings on glass, mostly of intricate wickerwork-like patterns. Not the kind of stuff that's going to set current debates on fire, but still I liked it. The reason is, so many people do this kind of stuff badly, and he's done it well. For what it is. Conceptually it's completely jumbled and his artist's statement is bollocks. But so much work which does have clear conceptual underpinnings is hideously cheesy, and at least this stuff is graphically interesting. If only he hadn't used whitewash on the wooden frames, which is something that makes me break out in a rash. And that lumpy conch shell object has got to go.

Then I jogged around Bell-Roberts, where Fritha Langerman's The Knowledge Chambers was on, which incorporated the special bonus of a clear artist's statement so for once I could actually work out what the hell was going on, and that was nice. I slowed down to a walk. I really enjoyed thinking about the paths knowledge has taken between Diderot's ambitious encyclopedia and the current 'information age' we are in. It was a clever link to make. But as
always with this kind of work, the sheer work ethic of it exhausts me. It is so immensely earnest, huge and expensive, it seems to be upholding a seriousness about the importance of art objects which I can't identify with. I yearned to do some of that interactive work known locally as physical criticism.

Having said that, though, I did get inspired by the central piece, the big rose window. Its chromed surfaces so powerfully evoked trashy corporate architecture, and I think corporate culture is a major force is the contemporary structuring of what is presented to the public as knowledge. Diderot would be aghast if he could see the relationships between religion, knowledge and corporate power that his categorisations have facilitated. I think the rose window would look perfect in that huge white neon-lit Nigerian church in Darling Street. I forget its name, but from its appearance it may as well be called GodCorp.

Labels: Fritha Langerman, Justin Anschutz, Lizza