Three by Three (3)
Yinka Shonibare’s New Space, London, UK
The third edition of ‘Three by Three’, a series of exhibitions taking place in the shell of Yinka Shonibare’s studio-to-be in Hackney, reminds us of two things that the art world has – at least until very recently – tended to forget: that a group show doesn’t need to be crowded with curatorial babble to offer a dense and rich experience, and that a lot can be done with very little. The principle of Shonibare’s latest venture is simple: every other month, he chooses three selectors (artists, curators, writers and his studio manager), who, in turn, invite three artists they like. It’s worth pausing on the word for a second, because if it seems obvious that exhibition-makers should like the people and practices they work with, it’s also one of the job’s great taboos, and some curators would sooner die than admit that what they do is driven by taste and friendship rather than some profundity of Foucault or Agamben.
Simon Periton, Sordid Sentimental and Saturn (2008)
None of that at ‘Three by Three’; no philosophers, no woolly theme, not even named curatorial endorsements. The names of the selectors (for this show Ruth Beale, Maria Marshall and JJ Charlesworth) are not attached to the names of the artists. Here it’s not about who chooses who, it’s about, as Shonibare says, looking at the stuff and enjoying yourself. And there is plenty to see in the semi-derelict rooms of the two-storey building overlooking the canal. Bjørn Venø’s wallpaper of photographic self-portraits of the artist in various degrees of undress is certainly one of the highlights. Caveman, Jesus, Nordic god or masturbating teenager, the character he enacts is as cathartic for the viewer as it might be for the artist, proposing a liberating, alternative male role model, one that fully embraces its contradictions and childishness. Other highlights include Brigida Mendes’ quirky black and white photographs, which disturbingly combine (and perhaps compare) the body of an elderly woman with minimalist units and assemblages, and Michael Pinsky’s wall of chemists’ neon green crosses.
The space doesn’t only showcase underrepresented artists; ‘Three by Three (2)’ featured a bingo with art works as prizes, and before I left the opening of this show I was told that I was about to miss karaoke and a drag act. The project is almost as social as it is artistic: once Shonibare’s studio is installed in the building, the venture will continue, not with exhibitions, but as a salon with talks and events. ‘We’ve got a hundred chairs’ says Shonibare, ‘we’ll be alright.’ Artist-run spaces and self-initiated curatorial experiments have long been a crucial part of London’s artistic life, sadly outshone in the last few years by art-market bling. The opening of this new space – alongside (to pick just three) Wolfgang Tillman’s Between Bridges, The Hex and FormContent – revives London’s tradition of the alternative, and reaffirms that the future of its art scene doesn’t lie in the deep pockets of its wealthy dealers, but in the energy of its artists.
Coline Milliard
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