VISUAL ARTS
STATIC
Colin Langridge, Tricky Walsh The Barn, Rosny Farm Until November 5
The Barn space at the Rosny Farm might seem to be a challenging space — it has an overwhelming character and comes with its own story, so it’s remarkable the space is very consistent in presenting exhibitions that work to the limits of the space so well. This is a testament chiefly to the solid infrastructure in the space and a reliable install team. This is what makes a difference, and really makes shows shine. There’s nothing like a great crew using decent equipment.
On top of this, the Rosny Barn seems to attract artists who enjoy a challenge and really work to what the space presents. Static, this new exhibition that is something of a collaboration for Tricky Walsh and Colin Langridge, is an example of this process in action: the show sits strongly in the space.
The most obvious work is the huge human exercise wheel, which works, and was made to work by the artists and some patient assistants as a performance event at the show’s opening, with all participants in regulation uniforms designed to maximise safety and efficiency for the task. This artwork is really striking and comes so loaded with dark comedy and powerful metaphor that it could have been the only element in this show and it would have been successful. It’s a great example of what good contemporary art does: takes something we joke about, and realises it so we might really see the implications. The massive wheel was likely a logistics nightmare, but here it is and it’s damn hilarious and very bleak.
The wheel is not the only moving object here though: Langridge has created sizeable wooden propellers, which move slowly and methodically. More reminiscent of aquatic propulsion than flight, they give Langridge’s other sculptural works a nautical flavour: the work Storage Unit contains oddly shaped forms that might function as buoys, while Another Day With You hints at being a ventilation device from a massive freight transporter or the like. Effectively, Langridge’s end of the Rosny Barn space has become a strange engine room, clearly powered by the human treadmill.
Walsh’s segment of the show is more delicate, but fits with Langridge's chunkier works. If Langridge’s end is the propulsion, Walsh is providing navigation. Walsh has had a period of notable productivity in recent years, and her practice, which takes in painting and sculpture has grown more complex and involved. Here we see some very recent works and the complexity is engrossing. Walsh has made mysterious, beautiful machines that glow with subtle lights, and really seem functional. The weird science-fiction narrative often present in Walsh’s art is very strong here: these devices have an affinity with a Doctor Who set, but also have a complex aesthetic that Walsh has developed. As the work progresses, it gets weirder and more singular, and with more implications about what it is and what it might be capable of doing. Walsh cleverly names these works as The Pathoclast or The Autoclast, enhancing that feel that they really do something. What they do is not clear though, but there’s a huge hint hanging from the back wall: a large set of geometric images that could be a map of some kind.
Langridge and Walsh have transformed the space into something that feels as if it could head somewhere. Where is unknown, but the feel of energy and motion is unavoidable.