Sleight of Hand
SLEIGHT Of Hand, the new exhibition at The ArtSpace in York, could be the scene of a new world record this evening.
World dice-stacking champion Jack Diamond will be attempting to break his own record as the centrepiece of the private view from 6pm to 8pm at the Tower Street gallery.
"The ArtSpace has taken on a life of its own," says gallery co-owner Greg McKee. "Tonight we have Jack Diamond; last month local rockers Death Cigarettes played a set. It's like The ArtSpace is the Doctor Who of York's art scene - every season there's a new identity!"
Sleight Of Hand ties in with York Magic Festival 2006. "We're always excited at exploring new themes, and York's first magic festival was the perfect excuse to expand our experiments," says gallery partner Ails Denholm.
"This exhibition is taking the best from our two previous shows - the darkness of Femininity and the pop fizz of Retro Techno - to deal with the kind of issues that magic involves: enchantment, illusion, deception."
That said, Greg reveals the show will not focus too much on the frolicsome side of magic. Kay Goodridge's contribution is a case in point. "We'd seen some of the photography she'd done for local charity Stretch and we were keen to use her photos of female inmates at Askham Grange as a metaphor for the roll of the dice at the card table of life," he says.
Stretch director Carlotta Goulden explains the construction of the images: "Each female prisoner had their family life projected on to them. Kay and I ensured they had a lot of control over the production and editing of their images. We're calling the group of photos 'I'm not serving time, time is serving me'."
Carlotta reckons these photographs are in keeping with the exhibition theme, but The ArtSpace's decision to use one of Stretch's images on the cover of its latest monthly artzine has sparked an immediate response.
"We've already had a few complaints from people worried we're exploiting these female prisoners, but our concern is to agitate discussion," says Greg. "One of the issues we're looking at is 'The Disappeared'. Stretch's photos of women prisoners and the accompanying images of their respective family lives help ensure they don't disappear altogether."
Sleight Of Hand also affirms The ArtSpace's remit of diverse artists. Paula Zimmermann returns with her characteristically large and colourful canvases; Frank Holli offers snapshots of macabre fairytales; newcomer David Tinkler introduces optical illusions, as does Selby-born Royal Academy artist Blue Wilson; and Polish-born Magdalena Maria Brieger extends her range of semi-abstract studies of horses, humans and flowers.
Meanwhile, renaissance man Rory Motion presents a humorous pagan celebration of movement and David Kettley conjures semi-gothic, semi-cinematic portrayals of the impossible.
"In an overwhelmingly technological world art can be a gateway to magic and mystery," says Rory. "Magic is there in the real world, you just need to know how to look for it," adds David.
"Rory and David's work is especially exciting," says Ails. "We're honoured to have such witty, visionary pieces on our walls. It's very different from the sexy sleaze of Retro Techno!"
Sleight Of Hand appears, as if by magic, from this evening until June 23, open daily.
'Sleight of Hand' continued The ArtSpace remit of diverse artists. Paula Zimmermann returned with her characteristically large and colourful canvases; Frank Holli offered snapshots of macabre fairytales; newcomer David Tinkler introduced his optical illusions, as did Selby born Royal Academy artist Blue Wilson; Polish born Magdalena Maria Brieger continued her popular range of semi-abstracts on horses, humans and flowers.
Record holding Dice Stacking Champion of the world Jack Diamond headlined the exhibition’s opening night – and broke his own world record!
* * * *
From The ArtSpace Magazine, issue 5, Spring 2006
‘Sleight of Hand: believe the lie’
Our palette of artists dealing with all things ‘Sleight of Hand’ range from singer/songwriter, comedian poet and tree impressionist Rory Motion to the goth father of York David Kettley. They’re on the inner pages of the front and back covers – kings, queens and jokers, every one of ‘em. Their work is on our walls till mid-June. Make sure you don’t miss out. See the greatest show on earth and come.
The Magic festival itself proves to be a whole lotta buzz. See page 4.Tom Sharp gives us the low down.
An exhibition at The ArtSpace wouldn’t be complete without a glimpse of the darkness behind the artwork. Kay Goodridge is a socially engaged and uncompromising photographer: she’s worked with inmates of Askham Grange and Kirklevington Prisons. Her stark images of female prisoners are heavy-duty stuff. She spent a lot of time and care ensuring the women were not mere 'subjects' of the photos - they had total control over the direction of the photographs. Like the rest of us, the female prisoners in her prints once took their seats at the card table of life, and through the cruel fusion of chance and choice the dice did not land in their favour. Some of these women are serving life, some are taking the flak for their drug dealing boyfriends. All are photographed bathed in the thin light of projected images of their respective family lives: smiles, companionship, cuddles. We are left to imagine how much more lonely these women are once the ghostly images of their lives outside disappear, and how much more like us they'd be if luck and skill had served them better as the wheel turned.
So there you have it, or should we say 'hey presto!'? Maybe not. Either way, The ArtSpace deals with the blind cards of illusion, deception, chance and the disappeared, until mid-June. You'll come? Say you will!
Greg McGee, May 2006
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