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Review Jun 02 2009 « | »
On the Line at Crimes Town Gallery This small, artist-run space in Stoke Newington opened on Friday with a new group show, with some interesting pieces......

Harry Williams

This small, artist-run space in Stoke Newington opened on Friday with a new group show, with some interesting pieces from six disparate artists. The title takes its name from the optimum height for displaying pictures in a 19thc. salon (the line - about eight feet high), which also happens to be the height of the gallery ceiling. Like many of these small group shows the theoretical derives of the curator's introduction had little to do with the work on display.

"The debate on the possible effects of the current economical downturn on the art world", which the exhibition purported to explore, was touched upon by Ben Newton's humorous 'The Division of Labour', in which an axe is embedded in a gold ingot. Oliver Clegg's 'House of Cards', made from a pack of German tarot cards and originally shown as part of an exhibition in the Freud Museum, was included as an easy reference to late Capitalism.

Two pieces by Gavin Turk, one of his Tea Stains from 2004, and 'Ash', in which a bronze cone is painted to make it appear like a pile of black ash, made for momentary observations on originality and illusion. Shane Bradford, who has made a career on dipping objects into emulsion paint, provided a 1938 copy of Hitler's 'My Struggle', encased in bright green glossy paint, with hardened drips at the bottom.

The most enthralling piece was perhaps the Egyptian Ayman Ramadan's film 'Iftar'. A group of poor Cairene men are arranged around a table laden with food and drink as in Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper'. They are being filmed whilst eating the meal of Iftar, which breaks the daily fast during the months of Ramadan. They grab hungrily at the food but there is a dignified sense of community amongst them which imbues the scene with a touching warmth, a religiosity even.

On the Line is at Crimes Town Gallery until June 28th. Press here for Crimes Town's {website}.

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