‘Homemaker'

by Jeanie Finlay
Folly Gallery
1st August - 10th September 2004

Reviewed by Kate Dobson

What I want from a work of art is to feel its bite, because it has beauty, or profundity, or because it has made its point spectacularly well. I want to feel saturated by art, like I am involved in it, and not merely a member of the audience. Admittedly, these are quite high demands, and there is certainly a place for less emotionally demanding art, such as the two exhibitions currently showing at Folly.

‘Homemaker', by Jeanie Finlay is a beautifully presented new media installation documenting what makes a house a home, and how this changes if you are housebound. The installation consists of two rooms, one from Derbyshire, and one from Japan, which incorporate interviews with housebound people. (Incidentally, that's the new media bit – the interviews are cleverly stitched together digital images which the viewer can interact with using a mouse.) So far, so good.

There is no doubt that this installation is a highly skilful piece of work, well thought out and spectacularly delivered. Kids will enjoy interacting with the piece, and the interviews are undeniably poignant and interesting. And yet, and yet… As much as the piece claims to be about how homes can change once you are housebound, there is no real discussion or commentary about this issue. The installation feels more like a poignant documentary or an Alan Bennett play than a piece of art.

While it's interesting that these housebound people are, in the piece, transported into a larger space and other peoples lives in a way they cannot be at home, it is difficult to be interested enough to listen to all the stories. This problem, combined with the fact that the audience feels none of the oppression or claustrophobia felt by those housebound people (it is too easy to simply walk away) undermine the skill and thought gone into making the installation.

For me, although I appreciate the poignancy of the interviews, they don't really make me feel anything. My overall impression with this installation, as with much new media art, was that technology won the day – its soul hidden, perhaps, under the mouse?

‘Bender'

by Nigel Grimmer
Folly Gallery
31st July - 3rd September 2004

Reviewed by Kate Dobson

‘Bender', by Nigel Grimmer, is again beautifully and professionally presented. It consists of nine mounted photographs in aluminium frames protected with non-reflective glass. The spectacular photographs depict two different groups of identical action figures, one set of green monsters, and one set of pink-clad women.

The aim of the work is to explore the nature of identity, through which rebellion, rejection, conformity and individuality are discussed. In one photograph, for example, two monsters are talking to a woman wearing a monster mask. The audience is clearly intended to wonder who is hiding, who is masking themselves, who is trying to fit in.

I think that the work succeeds in this aim, but it was more a sort of passive interest than a profound thought process for me. Perhaps the issue of identity discussed in this manner has been done too often (just watch any teen movie). Again, I felt a little disappointed – the undeniable appeal of the photographs was not backed up by their content, a rather superficial (ironically) portrayal of identity crises.

Incidentally, the title ‘Bender' refers to the two phrases ‘going on a bender' and ‘gender bender'. This title seems to me so twee and gleefully childish as to be extremely annoying, and if you can see how these terms actually inform the work, then you are a better woman than I am.