50a - A Space for Challenging Ideas
Those who never fallen
have never tried to climb. Perhaps even more chilling is a little sculpture of a baby covered with postage stamps. The callousness of the way in which children can be abandoned or passed around without love hits you in the face. Trevor Kirkwood exhibits his living room door on which he has casually wiped his brushes after finishing a painting. A disturbing metal sculpture is illuminated by a bare hanging light bulb, reflecting in its jagged edges a ripped out gas pipe on the floor.
Ingeniously illuminated by back lighting from displays originally used to highlight menus and prices this former takeaway, leased by Saeed Parpasour, who shares Karen’s enthusiasm for a project to give a space for artists with uncompromising ideas, is a set of photographs by 15 year old Beth Oliver. They are all studies of the movement of Eddie Stobbart lorries, catching the slipstream after the lorry has passed. A video projected on the stainless steel surfaces, slightly out of focus to slightly discordant music, emphasises the sense of transience. Like soundtrack of voices not clearly audible and projections not quite in focus used in the performance of In Memoria by the Clerks' Ensemble last month, it expresses the difficulty of holding on to moments and faces up to the fact of change and decay.
These are artists who want to confront their viewers with ideas rather than produce decorative objects for wealthy clients. More than forty artists have got in touch wanting to show their work, and she finds it sad that so many creative people have nowhere to show their work. She wants 50a to be a place for everyone, artists and viewers who are prepared to have their ideas shaken up. If you have ideas but are not quite sure how to express them, go and talk to Karen who gone on to study for an MA in Art and mounted several high profile exhibitions after leaving school with no qualifications. Her telephone number is 821914 and her email address is Kazpics@yahoo.com.