REVIEW - [( 6 )] go to Oxford
In the 1930s, Berenice Abbott began the task of interpreting the material features and the spirit of New York, at first alone, and then later as part of an 'Art Project' collective. She wrote. "To make the portrait of a city is a life work and no-one portrait suffices, because the city is always changing. Everything in the city is properly part of its story - its physical body of brick, stone, steel, glass, wood, its lifeblood of living, breathing men and women. Streets, vistas, panoramas, bird's eye views and worm's eye views, the noble and the shameful, high life and low life, tragedy, comedy, squalor, wealth, the mighty towers of skyscrapers, the ignoble facades of slums, people at work, people at home, people at play...:" (Changing New York, 1939) The [( 6 )] collective - Tanya Ahmed, Rob ™, Keith Greenough, Dewald Botha, Pete Mansell, Nigel Haworth - have continued in the spirit of this tradition building an ever changing portrait of the city of Oxford, England; from its ivory towers to its council estates; from its marketplaces to Pokemon street vistas. In [( 6 )] go to Oxford you will experience the city from many perspectives, referencing photographic traditions as old as photography and as new as the smartphone capture, but all unified by the historical 10x8 inch frame. This artist curated experience succeeds in creating a strong sense of harmony, whilst at the same time presenting us with views so radically different that it challenges our perceptions of the city. The fact that this body of work is shown in an entirely different Oxford (Nova Scotia, Canada) adds to this strange and yet exciting portrait. No doubt, the people of small town Oxford, NS (pop.1000) will have, in many ways, a different perspective on these works, than the inhabitants of Oxford, England (where the exhibition may be shown at a later date). For me, this was summed up by one young girl’s comment at the opening, in reference to a Keith Greenough photograph of a ‘Pizza Hut’ restaurant in a Victorian building on George Street - “they have royal pizza places in England!”.
Keith Greenough connects Victorian Oxford with contemporary Oxford via Kelly's Directory and a series of portraits of historic building facades that appear in high key on heavily textured paper, as if from the archive of a Victorian architect. Clearly influenced by Ed Ruscha’s Every Building on Sunset Strip, who in turn is indebted to Walker Evans (we return to Berenice Abbott and her circle), Greenough contrasts the elegant old architecture with the modern shop and restaurant frontages, drawing attention to the changing economy, from production to consumption.
These images of Victorian architectural jewels sit uneasily with the austere reality of contemporary council estates, as depicted in bold, punchy shots by Pete Mansell. These objective realistic social documentary style portraits of working class residential and working sites tell another story besides the romantic, and mythical Oxford of towers and spires, reflecting Mansell’s interest with anomie. Mansell adopts a very formalised approach to the Blackbird Lees estate; one determined by horizontal and vertical lines and a low point of view. He wants us to engage with these images at different levels; as a social statement, but also as pictures.
A very different aesthetic is at work in the rich monochrome studies of shadow and light on stone architecture of Tanya Ahmed's work; subjective and at the same time concerned with a very physical reality; it reminds me of those beautiful platinum print documents of Frederick Evans, but with the darkness and humanity of Bill Brandt. It was clear from the opening night, that the people of Oxford, NS, were particularly entranced by these subtle and mysterious views of old Oxford, England.
Contrast this with Rob™'s 'ersatz of true reality' - his street views mediated through the use of Pokemon Go, an augmented reality linking the local ancient city with 21st century global technology, and questions of simulacra and simulation. These colourful little images, 1:1 scale iPhone screen captures, are playful and at the same time help us connect with, and even notice, the quotidian or 'mundane' of the city streets. An interesting contrast between the old architectural reality of Oxford, and the virtual reality of the online game.
Dewald Botha shares Rob ™’s sense of the Simulacrum, an illusion of sorts being kept alive by media and commercialism, and so he turns his attention to very personal views of the streets and public spaces. Botha isolates objects in the frame and highlights them by juxtaposing objects and views or landscapes, all of the objects just a little odd or strange, party balloons floating outside an ancient doorway, a large plastic ice cream cone sitting outside a shop and so on.
Nigel Haworth also explores the shopping areas, in particular the old covered market, and he too has an eye for the quirky in this eclectic space. His images are imbued with an intensely rich colour palette that draws us into the marketplace, and create a sort of strange hyper-reality - an almost eerie feeling. He reflects the quietness and stillness of the market at the end of a working day with very static and flat images, that include intriguing typography and written words.
[( 6 )] go to Oxford confirms what Abbott wrote those many years ago, "To make the portrait of a city is a life work and no-one portrait suffices". Let us hope that the [( 6 )] Collective keep on returning to Oxford, with their very distinctive perspectives, enriching our view of that city, and helping us to see our own 'always changing' built environment with fresh eyes.
Keith Greenough connects Victorian Oxford with contemporary Oxford via Kelly's Directory and a series of portraits of historic building facades that appear in high key on heavily textured paper, as if from the archive of a Victorian architect. Clearly influenced by Ed Ruscha’s Every Building on Sunset Strip, who in turn is indebted to Walker Evans (we return to Berenice Abbott and her circle), Greenough contrasts the elegant old architecture with the modern shop and restaurant frontages, drawing attention to the changing economy, from production to consumption.
These images of Victorian architectural jewels sit uneasily with the austere reality of contemporary council estates, as depicted in bold, punchy shots by Pete Mansell. These objective realistic social documentary style portraits of working class residential and working sites tell another story besides the romantic, and mythical Oxford of towers and spires, reflecting Mansell’s interest with anomie. Mansell adopts a very formalised approach to the Blackbird Lees estate; one determined by horizontal and vertical lines and a low point of view. He wants us to engage with these images at different levels; as a social statement, but also as pictures.
A very different aesthetic is at work in the rich monochrome studies of shadow and light on stone architecture of Tanya Ahmed's work; subjective and at the same time concerned with a very physical reality; it reminds me of those beautiful platinum print documents of Frederick Evans, but with the darkness and humanity of Bill Brandt. It was clear from the opening night, that the people of Oxford, NS, were particularly entranced by these subtle and mysterious views of old Oxford, England.
Contrast this with Rob™'s 'ersatz of true reality' - his street views mediated through the use of Pokemon Go, an augmented reality linking the local ancient city with 21st century global technology, and questions of simulacra and simulation. These colourful little images, 1:1 scale iPhone screen captures, are playful and at the same time help us connect with, and even notice, the quotidian or 'mundane' of the city streets. An interesting contrast between the old architectural reality of Oxford, and the virtual reality of the online game.
Dewald Botha shares Rob ™’s sense of the Simulacrum, an illusion of sorts being kept alive by media and commercialism, and so he turns his attention to very personal views of the streets and public spaces. Botha isolates objects in the frame and highlights them by juxtaposing objects and views or landscapes, all of the objects just a little odd or strange, party balloons floating outside an ancient doorway, a large plastic ice cream cone sitting outside a shop and so on.
Nigel Haworth also explores the shopping areas, in particular the old covered market, and he too has an eye for the quirky in this eclectic space. His images are imbued with an intensely rich colour palette that draws us into the marketplace, and create a sort of strange hyper-reality - an almost eerie feeling. He reflects the quietness and stillness of the market at the end of a working day with very static and flat images, that include intriguing typography and written words.
[( 6 )] go to Oxford confirms what Abbott wrote those many years ago, "To make the portrait of a city is a life work and no-one portrait suffices". Let us hope that the [( 6 )] Collective keep on returning to Oxford, with their very distinctive perspectives, enriching our view of that city, and helping us to see our own 'always changing' built environment with fresh eyes.