Fox’s Paintings, such as ‘Be Careful with Me’, depict distilled moments of intense intimacy and are suspended by an undertone of violence through the foregrounded glinting blade. This same resistance is echoed in Blanning’s sculptures by the combination of materials, natural wood, and highly brushed and burnished metal, which he uses to create minimalist objects that the viewer is forced to consider. The individual poised pieces interact in the gallery and put the viewer in the throes of this tension.
Unlike the paintings, which are on a cinematic scale and impose their lustrous quality on the viewer, all the sculptures (except one mounted piece, untitled) are beneath the viewer’s eye level and therefore one must look down at them. In many works, like Forever, the act of viewing these sculptures echoes the experience of looking into a natural rockpool or puddle, closely observing the minute aspects of nature, an aspect of the work that juxtaposes the glamour of the paintings. This connection that the sculptures allow the viewer to have, strengthened by the reflective surfaces of the metal, reflects the relationships between the figures in Fox’s paintings. Although I feel that the objects respond to the viewer, the paintings depict intimacy that simultaneously invites the viewer in and excludes us through the substantial borders around the image and the limitations of the canvas’ dimensions.
Blanning and Fox consider the glamour of mundanity and cause the viewer to reflect on their own reality with the reflective surfaces of the metal. The surface of the brushed copper plate featured in Untitled exactly matches Fox’s blurred brushstrokes reflecting the viewer in the surface. The paintings depict normal moments such as shaving or putting a necklace on your lover, but Fox dials up the tension and drama through her brushstrokes and glossy aesthetic. This visual echo immediately and successfully unites the viewer’s experience of the artwork and allows consideration for a glamourous view of their own reality.
"the visual similarities between the works make for a very successful exhibition"
The visual similarities between the works make for a very successful exhibition. There is a focus on materials through both artists’ work, the raw canvas framing the paintings is like the unfinished wood of the sculptures, which is used throughout to focus the viewer’s attention on the glinting surfaces and Lustre of the metal. These similarities become innumerable the longer one spends in the space which I think is a testimony to the strength of the collaborative show, and how these pieces become even more successful when in conversation with each other.
However, it could be said that Fox overpowers the exhibition as they demand the attention of the viewer much more, and Blanning’s pieces are forced to take a supporting role, which is such a shame because of the power of the sculptures. Unless that is a deliberate curatorial choice from the artists meaning that the viewer explores the space in a way in which they discover the sculptures after being primarily confronted by the paintings, in which case it works.
Aesthetically and conceptually the exhibition is very strong, but from a curatorial perspective I might change it by giving Blanning’s sculptures more space to breathe and speak. Although, the similarities of specific details, and the juxtaposition between elements such as scale, create a powerful dynamic that excites the viewer, or at least me, and I can’t wait to see what these artists produce for their degree show and beyond.
