The Frog by Eduardo Pialozzi.
Contemporary’s latest opening night for Somewhat Abstract brought Nottingham’s art lovers together for an evening of late night art viewing and music. The exhibition displays a selection from The Arts Council Collection - the largest national loan collection of modern and British art outside London - founded in 1946. Somewhat Abstract is a collection of the works from seventy artists, eight of them being Turner Prize Winners.
As the exhibition’s title suggest, the pieces are not fully abstract, in fact they are all an example of near abstract; pieces that have been altered or subject matters that have been distorted. Walking around the gallery there is a wide variety of subject matters, from maps to architecture, paintings to sculptures. No two pieces are the same. The art works flow and complement each other regardless of their differences; as the description of the collection states, “Somewhat Abstract reflects ideas and perspectives outside of art itself.” They relate to landscape and nature, technology, history and it is evident throughout this collection, each piece relates to society or social matters in one way or another.
One piece in particular in Gallery 1 relates to society and economical change - Mark Lewis’ Children’s Games. The visually moving and stimulating piece displays a moving camera following a pathway around this perhaps ‘rough’ estate in Elephant and Castle, London. No sound, just movement, and as soon as my eyes fixated on this video I had to see the ‘end’ of the pathway; which is never actually shown. The collection in Gallery 1 are a mixture of modernist design and architecture attempts at how to reshape society. The estate in the video is now set to be demolished; the video feeling like a reflection of the never ending struggle to re-mould the estate, the constant looping of the video acting as a reflection of the monotonous effort to rework and transform, to allow the estate and public of this area to grow with the changes. Many of the other works evoke the feeling of pieces that can be looked at in one way, but to understand it fully means that you have to comprehend the ideas outside the art itself.
As usual, Contemporary didn’t hold back with entertainment for its attendees. Music from Radio 6 Music’s Tom Whalley and Penny, a new audio-visual from Asher Levitas and the writer and artist, Micheal Crowe. Playing old classics in a somewhat slightly abstract remixed style, it fitted the event perfectly. The collection is carefully pieced together, fantastically curated and well worth a visit, the entertainment provided for the opening night reflecting this impeccably.
Somewhat Abstract runs until Sunday 29 June, free, Nottingham Contemporary, Weekday Cross, NG1 2GB
Nottingham Contemporary website
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
