Matt Small, Swoon and Brian Adam Douglas

Ways Of Seeing

Whats the deal with the black rat press recycling old exhibition pieces? last month I gave Nick Walker a bad review of his "A Sequence of Events" exhibition at the Black Rat Press gallery, one of main reasons I was critical was because the work displayed had been recycled from his last show, which took place over a year ago. It was as though Nick had just been sitting on his arse for a year and the black rat press just threw together an exhibition for him at the last minute. where was all his new work?

This brings me to the biggest problem with the Black Rat Press' latest exhibition "Ways of Seeing" . "Ways..." is a group show featuring the work of Matt Small, Swoon and Brian Adam Douglas (AKA Elbow Toe) and had the potential to be one of the best exhibitions of the year had it not been for yet more recycled pieces. The guilty party this time is Mr Matt Small, whose work was displayed just a few months ago at his solo show "Youngstarrs" However, I feel that this was more forgivable as it was a group show.

With that said, "Ways Of Seeing" still stands as one of the best exhibitions the gallery has put on this year. The three artists involved are incredibly talented. Matt Smalls' work (pictured right) has to be seen to be believed. Infact seeing his work in real life is a must. It's the only way you'll get a proper understanding of the Smalls' method as seeing images on a computer screen doesn't do his work justice. The way he makes seemingly random paint splats form a perfectly rounded and textured face is just incredible.

Ways Of Seeing also introduced me to the wonderful Brian Adam Douglas, and artist who up until now I had never seen before. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for his next solo show.

The weakest of the three artists - and probably the most famous - was Swoon. To be honest I didn't think their was anything wrong with the stuff she had displayed - I really like her work - it's just that she was over shadowed by the much better work on display from Matt and Brian.

It would have been nice to see the 3 artists collaborated on a piece. It is a shame as they all have a similar style of how they present their work, using collages of either paint, paper or wood block prints to create people and faces. A collaboration would have really worked to make the show feel a bit more complete. It does feel like you are at three seperate exhibitions at once rather than a group show as there is no interaction between the artists. A missed opportunity.

My final thought is that although not perfect this was a great show and I encourage anyone in the London area to go see it before it finishes. The talent of the three artist is almost unbeatable, the work on display is amazing and if you didn't go to Matt Smalls last show or haven't seen his work before then i promise your in for a treat.

Exhibition Rating: 8 out of 10

(Pictures in order of appearance: Swoon, Matt Small and Brian Adam Douglas)