Royal Art Lodge
Pippy Houldsworth, London, UK
The Royal Art Lodge’s paintings might be small – each is only two inches square – yet they tackle some of life’s biggest questions. Death, despair and divorce all make an appearance in the 160 works that are displayed, in groups of ten, at Pippy Houldsworth’s west London space, though melancholia is offset by a surreal humour and clever wordplay that saves the paintings from becoming too earnest.
The works are simplistic in style, the deliberately naïve imagery expressing a specific thought that is often reiterated in text included within the paintings. Some are blackly humorous – one shows a man falling from a ladder, with ‘Starting Over’ written in bold along its base – while others are almost cartoon-like, such as the painting of an impassive goat with a mouse hanging from its mouth, accompanied by the words ‘Goat as cat’. The works’ varied tone is perhaps due to the Royal Art Lodge’s collaborative nature. The collective now consists of just three artists – Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama and Neil Farber, all of whom have had considerable solo success – though there has been eight artists in total since the group’s formation in 1996. The RAL’s history is already taking on its own mythology, in part because of the location of the group’s first meeting at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Western Canada.
Winnipeg is now so closely linked to the collective that it feels impossible not to mention the city when discussing their work. Its extremity plays a part in this, and perhaps also in why the group first came about – the nearest major city, Minneapolis, is seven hours drive away, and the Winnipeg weather is equally uncompromising, with notoriously long winters. It was supposedly the cold that encouraged the group to stay indoors making art, though this doesn’t account for either their prolifically wide-ranging work – which includes films and installations alongside the paintings and drawings – or their longevity.
There is a certain fascination in how so many artistic egos are able to produce a consistent body over a long period. In an interview with David Shrigley in the catalogue accompanying this exhibition, the RAL (who talk as one) play this down, describing the project as ‘an experiment that came out of mutual admiration’ while also remarking on it being ‘a casual way to make art while hanging out with friends’. Shrigley is an appropriate choice as interviewer for the piece, as the RAL cover similar tragicomic ground to his own work (though Shrigley notes that he finds the notion of working as part of a collective impossible).
The RAL’s history shouldn’t detract from the work itself, however, which is charming, unsettling and rewarding in turn. The work has strong parallels with the solo output of the three artists left involved, especially Dzama, but there is a sense of game-playing or sparring that gives these paintings the feeling of one-liners, gags between friends, which is perhaps what they are. As in Shrigley’s work, though, there is also the sense of some essential truth being hidden within the joke, and the show’s content is likely to make visitors smile and wince in equal measure as it details the violent and absurd nature of everyday life.
Eliza Williams
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