Blank Expression Review
Sunday 11th Nov 2007
Lisa Beauchamp
Blank Expression is the first exhibition by new arts collective Blank Media. As a new art collective, Blank Media has been formed to, ‘promote all creative individuals who don’t usually get the opportunity to display their talents.’
This might seem a slightly vague idea on which to base a collective — surely this could be applied to many arts organisations, galleries or studios? However, it is through this aim that Blank Media highlight the difficulties faced by artists and the ways in which institutions judge and categorize artists. The familiar categories of ‘emerging’ and ‘established’ — but just how are these judged? Is it the number of group or solo shows an artist has had? And what galleries have these exhibitions been at? Have any of these been in London? How have they progressed since their time at University and as an ‘emerging’ artist?
It is a common expectation for artists to prove their development in accordance with certain criteria and it is often only after a certain amount of time, group shows, solo shows and residencies that an artist may be termed ‘established.’ But just how and what lies in–between to help the artist on his/her pursuit?
Not to sound like an arts careers service, a massive void exists between these steadfast categories of emerging and established with seemingly nothing in–between. However, this is exactly what Blank Media are tapping into. As stated by Mark Devereux, Blank Media’s Chairperson, ‘many artists find it difficult to stay motivated to create work, especially when they find it difficult to show it, therefore Blank Media aims to help these individuals to stay creative and create an output for their work.’
Arriving at the Zion Arts Centre for their first exhibition I was unsure of what to expect. Without a fixed theme, I was worried that the work might lack connection or substance. This was far from the case. On entering the space the viewer was presented with an exciting and stimulating space. Showing a vast array of work in a variety of media including photography, painting, sculpture, video, installation and even live music there was something very refreshing about this exhibition.
Advertised as an Open Exhibition, artists were asked to submit examples of their work and the successful artists would then be featured as part of a group show. In terms of judging, Blank Media gives preference to artists that are just starting out (or are seen to be — having had less shows and exhibitions) and all artists who submit work feature on Blank Media’s website offering them the opportunity to network and view other artist’s works.
As a viewer to this exhibition it was refreshing not having a theme in which to link everything to. Highlights were Yan Kit Wong and Cynthia Nip’s Origami Birds II in which 35 origami birds linked the gallery’s interior and exterior space. Commenting on the cultural bombardment between China and England, with the artist’s growing up and living in both (being born in Hong Kong and studying in England), Origami Birds II are made out of envelopes posted from England to Hong Kong. Posted in their original bird shape their wings become stamped on arrival in Hong Kong, signifying the authoritarian stamping of individuals passports when entering different countries — a ‘stamping’ of their identity to raise interesting questions of individual and collective identities and the constant transgression of these.
Another highlight was Nadine Patterson’s animations in which she created a museum of her life as a bid to preserve memories in response to her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s and her video documentation of her three–month exchange to Finland. However, most interesting about these animations was the focus on process and the ways in which the artist had chosen to present her development of ideas and the decisions and changes she made to each project along the way. The animations acted as a video analogue to her sketchbooks and the viewers were invited into a side of an artist’s work that they are normally kept apart from which was refreshing and seemed to capture the spirit of the exhibition as a whole.
The live music by MAQ (Modern Art Quartet) provided the first part of the musical accompaniment to the work on the opening night. Performing an open set, viewers and audience members could join the duo, adding with whatever instrument and music they felt appropriate. This seemed a little overdone and seemed to interrupt the smoothness of the exhibition and the works on display, but perhaps this was the point?
Unable to be lulled into ‘it’s another exhibition preview mode’ Blank Expression offered something different.
Blank Media’s aim to promote and assist artists by giving them a creative output is achieved through this exhibition and this same idea is echoed through many artist–led groups in the Manchester region, such as Contents May Vary, [deletia] and many studio groups such as Bankley Studios, Islington Mill and previous groups such as 281 Chapel Street. Inventing new and innovative ways to show and make work is a pre–requisite for every artist.
Blank Media has stemmed from this tradition and it just goes to show that this way of working is sometimes the only way.
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