Don't Go To Work
Rhodes + Mann
"We all need something to help us through the day,"
reads the publicity for this show - which makes it sound like a
recommendation for Valium.
Set around the theme of weekend hedonism, however, for the 14
artists here, it suggests an after working hours culture of raves
and chemically enhanced hangovers; you'd feel out of place if you're
over 35 - or if you'd decided your extended adolescence had already
been stretched to breaking point.
Jason Coburn has contributed a witty installation - a small glass
shelf in the downstairs toilet, which, when you get close - snout
level in fact - you notice has been etched with the telephone help line
for cocaine abusers; Maria Coletsis has taken two glossy
photographs of what at first appear to be showroom mannequins but
are actually live showgirls (see picture); while Louis Nixon has
installed a metal oil drum that has been mechanised to roll around
the gallery floor like an old drunk.
Stephen Hughes has, ostensibly, provided something altogether
more useful: a wall of optics bottles containing real spirits
(though I doubt whether the gallery has got a licence for punters to
just help themselves).
This is more degree show high jinks than a serious examination of
'issues', but like Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, a sad whiff of
desperation clings to this show like the sweet odour of soiled bed
sheets and fag butts. As Arthur Seaton, that quintessentially 1960s
anti-hero, would say: "All I want is a good time. The rest is
propaganda."
Until Sept 16, Rhodes + Mann, 37 Hackney Road E2, Wed to Sat
11am to 6pm, Sun noon to 6pm, free.
Tel: 020 7729 4372. www.rhodesmann.com Tube: Old Street
