Fine Art degree show - London Metropolitan 2008

It would have been much easier if London Metropolitan had explained on their web site which building was holding each course’s degree show – but eventually I found the Fine Art Show!

Unfortunately a lot of the 2d work, painting, photography and print, in this show lacks ambition in that it is very traditional in subject and really quite small. This gives the feel of a community art show rather than of an exciting experimental art school. However as always, the exceptions shine out, and I particularly like the canvasses of Elizabeth Vicary whose colour field washes with delicately painted delicate birds are very strong.

The 3d work in the show is generally more impressive and innovative - two people have very effectively used paint as a sculptural material, in Kirsty Wood’s floor piece the paint is more like flayed animal skins than acrylic but even more remarkable is Jon Gabb’s work. Quite how he cut the sheet of paint into such delicate threads is a mystery, but the way he suspended them from the ceiling makes a spectacular piece in which the moiré effect adds to the viewer’s experience.

Other highlights include Paul Good’s Sellotape pieces and “Quercuc Ano” by Matt Blackler, a fabulous remaking of a section of tree trunk by winding oak veneer round and round into growth rings (much more satisfying than his slow spin painting machine). Also very interesting and novel was the archive of Clem Fatale and Fatalism constructed by Charlotte Young and I couldn’t decide whether it was a spoof, and I’m still not sure.

I did laugh at the bull in a china shop in Lorna Macmillan’s video but it didn’t hold my attention for very long in contrast to the quiet, but exquisite floor projection by Dilys Rees in which shots of Chartres and Chichester cathedral floors are edited together showing the beauty of wear and tear and the scars of centuries.

Finally I was impressed by Deniz Unal’s “Life in the UK Test” – did you ever wonder whether you would pass the government’s new citizenship exam? Well Deniz took fourteen students from London Met and asked them a selection of the questions. I watched the video recording with fascination and certainly didn’t get them all right…. Only one of her guinea pigs passed, I guess some bright spark will decide we all need an injection of Britishness in the education system in the future - another Americanising influence.