Review Jan 21 2010 « | »

Photo 50 at the London Art Fair Strong photography talent showcased at Photo 50 for third year running

Eloise Donnelly

Kick starting the new season, the 2010 London Art Fair had an optimistic feel as gallerists and collectors sought to generate renewed interest and funds after an understandably disappointing 2009. This year's focus on photography is linked in with this: being cheaper and more accessible than other media has encouraged a shift of emphasis to dealers specialising in contemporary photographic work..

In this atmosphere the Photo 50 showcase, now in its third year, generated huge levels of interest. Featuring work selected by writer David Campany, ICA Artistic Director Ekow Eshun, collector Aniita Zabludowicz and a team from the Goldsmith's MFA Curating Programme, the exhibition showcased a broad range of photographic techniques and approaches from recent graduates as well as established artists; a litmus test for the state of contemporary photography in Britain.

From traditional prints to mixed media presentations encompassing costume, performance and painting the showcase really exhibited the richness and vitality of current practice. Tereza Buskova's screen prints dissolved the borders between modern and historical technique, while Abdul Hakim Onitolo's project examining racial stereotypes utilised collage and found objects as well as digital work. However, the two projects that stood out used traditional photographic practice and themes, adding new dimensions to the established canons of landscape and social documentary photography respectively.

The labels of Dan Holdsworth's sublime photographs exploring the interaction of the natural and man made worlds were understandably displaying an abundance of red dots within the first couple of days. The first image, Array, from the series White Noise, 2006 captures a seemingly endless arrangement of electrical pylons. By delicately overexposing the image the background seems to disappear and the pylons are presented as finely balanced, fragile structures, resonating with the faint calligraphic reeds in the foreground.

Polly Braden's work stood out for its fresh approach to photographing China's social landscape as it undergoes massive changes. Instead of conforming to the usual subjects of overcrowding and squalor in the burgeoning cities, Braden captured themes of universality, caught in a moment's observation. The image Night Walk depicts an old woman with stick and sling struggling with shopping down a dark street, momentarily caught in the light emanating from a wedding dress shop. The delicate juxtaposition of age and youth; fragility and fertility captured so subtly resonates across national borders and adds a new dimension to recent documentary photography of China.

Both Holdsworth and Braden took traditional themes that have been explored photographically from the early days of the medium and reworked them for the modern era. This, coupled with the vast range of work on display contributed to the general feeling of optimism for the state of British contemporary art that permeated this year's fair.

Sonia Zhuravlyova

The London Art Fair is big. It's so big, in fact, that ideally you'd take in just a small part of it in one go and then come back another day. And if you're going to pick a place to start, then Photo50 is a good a place as any, if only as an example of how curated art sales can be as much a miss as a hit. Photo50 is a showcase for contemporary photography with artists selected by a panel of those in the know - a lecturer on the history of photography and the artistic director of ICA are among them.

Each of the panellists championed a photographer they've pinpointed as a star on the rise. Polly Braden, nominated by the aforementioned photography lecturer David Campany, is an experienced photographer of Chinese life and culture. Campany chose her because he liked that she photographed the everyday - the slightest gestures, the fleeting expressions - and avoids epic scenes of grandeur and squalor. But without those epic scenes, Braden's snaps of the minutiae of Chinese life become just random shots, devoid of meaning, and are frankly, slightly contrived. Pluck them out of any kind of context and you end up with very little, in terms of aesthetic or intellectual impact.

Tereza Bu?ková, a Czech photographer, nominated by collector Anita Zabludowicz , gives us a selection of tableaux vivants, which mean to reinterpret Czech traditions and her heritage, but are actually pretty garish. Devoid of meaning and not pleasant to look at, I wonder what new and interesting thing Zabludowicz saw in them. She called Buskova intriguing, but that's just about all that can be said about these photographs.

There are others here, some pleasing to the eye, but none as breathtaking as Dan Holdsworth's eerie landscape pictures. They are the gems of this exhibition. To him, nature is cool, calm and aloof, whether he is capturing a nocturnal icy seascape or jagged mountains where only ghosts can live. He also shows us nature scarred by man - a half-built bridge in a ravine or row upon row of pylons against the background of blindingly white snow. He was nominated and introduced by Ekow Eshun from the ICA, who says: 'His photos do not document nature as abstract unspoilt idyll but as a place that is tracked and scarred by human contact. Paradoxically they are all the more beautiful for that.' I couldn't agree more.

Comments

• In response to Sonia Zhuravlyova's comments about Tereza Buskova's work, it's important to stress that Tereza's works are actually photographs made into screenprints using the four colour printing process, this gives the tableaux vivants layers and creates intriguing reliefs and scuptural effects, which seem to have passed the critic by. Buskova's works are a visual feast, they do resist meaning in a strict narrative sense - as Zabludowicz has stated in the national press - but this does not make them meaningless. Having worked for Tereza now as a model / perfomer / dancer for four years , I can testify that being part of these works is like being part of a sacred rite or ritual, which has its own meaning - rather like a dark current running underneath ourselves - that speaks to the subconscious. Anyone familiar with the folklore of the Czech republic or other countries could see that Buskova is reinterpreting her ancient traditions by invoking their pagan origins: the print 'Beheading of the Cockerel' in particular illustrates this, being a wilder take on the traditonal prints and woodcuts showing young women taking cockerels to slaughter. This piece invokes the male versus female more strongly than these other treatments of the subject matter. This pagan aspect may of course be something that offends the modern sensibilities of those who are cut off from nature and the irrational, wild part of human nature. Garish? Welll that's a matter of opinion, and art is subjective, but 'Festive Days' and 'The Fertile Couple' have sepia tones, 'Beheading of the Cockerel' does have some high spots of colour, which again invoke Buskova's heritage, the red of the headress and the cockerel in particular are reminiscent of the bright blue of the traditional costumes of Ratiskovice near one of the villages Buskova visited before making the print, and seem to have inspired her. I think the critic could have considered the subject matter and traditions a bit more before writing her piece, and also taken the time to aquaint herself with how Bukova makes her work, reviews after all are supposeed to be information giving and also show the work within its oen context; this review is very light on context. Posted by: Zoe Simon
• It is nice to see that there still people out there who remain obliviously keen to try to stamp out the nonconformist and 'garish' practice of Czech artists like Buskova. Just as well the Arts Council don't think the same or else perhaps we would not be able to appreciate Buskova's forthcoming Masopust. Perhaps next time Sonia Zhuravlyova may spend a little more time before she lazily chooses to demonstrate that she is devoid of understanding rather claiming that Buskova's prints are devoid of meaning. Posted by: Black Coffee
• The greatest artists are very often controversial! Buskova should see this as a tribute to her art! Posted by: Grandma`
• Devoid of meaning! Now there's a statement that transcends language. Personally, find the whole question of history[s] consumed in and by mythologies and patriarchal cultural clensing - which of course is one of the tropes of Tereza's work. One thing you should not say is that her work is 'devoid of meaning'. Posted by: John O'Hora
• Nice to see that the next generation of Russians are just as keen to stamp out the nonconformist and garish practice of the next generation of Czech artists. Just as well the Arts Council don't think the same, look out for Buskova's forthcoming Masopust when she will hopefully produce some more work that is not just pleasant to look at and perhaps next time Zhuravlyova will try to a little harder to avoid demonstrating herself devoid of understanding rather than lazily calling Buskova devoid of meaning. Posted by: Jo Hurlow

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