Slade BA Degree Show 2008

The graduating BA students at the Slade have few grumbles about their time here – no wonder with the excellent facilities and the fabulous spaces they are allocated for their BA show! The ones I spoke to were positive but realistic about their futures, most wishing to wait for some more experience before embarking on MA’s (showing a maturity beyond that of many young graduating artists).

Painting is definitely not dead in this group of 37, mainly very young, artists, in line with the trend in many recent degree shows. Including some figurative work by Richard Burton, whose dozens of very small paintings hung in grids are very strong.

There are however some aesthetic themes recurring throughout the work of these painters, predictably lots of very large and multi panelled pieces. Less expected is the large amount of decorative pattern making, Japanese Ryosuke Kondoh has combined some of the aesthetics from his cultural background with the content of images from western Old Masters in a way that seems to justify this element of decoration, but there are several other painters, both 2D and 3D, whose work is almost textile design!

Referential work is understandably common at this level and there is a strong Takahashi feel to Sophie Michael’s colour installation, but initially obvious comparisons of Aya Haidar’s tepee piece “Everything Must Go”, made from recycled garments and filled with ‘folk art’ objects (with massive use of embroidery) to Tracy Emin’s “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995” lessens when one realises the main concern behind the project is refugees, and the extreme make do and mend behaviour that exists with abject poverty. Her statement that “My work has pushed me to place myself at the centre of the work, both physically as the object and emotionally as the subject.” Could be equally applied to Tracy’s ongoing project but the difference is in the depth of concerns and obsessions of the younger artist.

Ambitious projects abound, particularly interesting is that of Russian born Philip Firsov who has constructed a ‘cinema’, in the form of a shambolic windmill, within the courtyard of this venerable institution. It is constructed from building hoardings and architectural salvage scavenged from skips around the university and UCH. He has packed the internal space with huge paintings, sculptures, a modern icon and a screen showing film relating to his travels in eastern Europe. On the outside there are some extraordinary warning signs in addition to painting and sculpture on the structure itself.

I enjoyed much in this show, there is skill and seriousness and at times humour, I particularly liked the wit in the work of Rebecca Wright, my favourite piece being “Reasons for Making Art”. My soap box, however, as always is the presentation of film and video works. It is bad enough to watch a couple of minutes of boring video and wonder if one can leave or if one has to watch all the way through to do the piece justice! Where the equipment is not working, there is no sympathy or tolerance at all for the artist. The affecticious fashion for using antique projectors, with even more technical problems, just exacerbates this.