Manchester鈥檚 Castlefield Gallery showcased聽Launch Pad: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, a group project initiated by six artists based around the UK, France and the Netherlands.聽The title is taken from the often-parodied opening line of Edward Bulwer-Lytton鈥檚 1830 novel Paul Clifford. The introductory sentence has since been used to prompt creativity in schools in a free associational game where children take turns in adding the next line of the story until they have created their own narrative.
Lindsey Mendick, an artist based in Sheffield, proposed to five other artists that they produce their own story, which would then become the basis of the Castlefield Gallery鈥檚 latest instalment of its Launch Pad series 鈥 a programme that provides artists, writers and independent curators with the opportunity to use the gallery as a test pad for their work.聽Suzanne Posthumus, who lives and works in London and the Netherlands, said: 鈥淲e recognised we were quite similar as artists and discussed doing a project together. Normally, it鈥檚 best to look for differences as you do not want each other鈥檚 work to be too similar. This idea acted like a 鈥榮hared departure鈥 for us.鈥
Although Bulwer-Lytton鈥檚 famous phrase has become associated with melodramatic fiction, the six artists鈥 story is elusive, rambling and dreamlike as its first-person narrator ruminates about an incident involving himself, crocs, a pot of KFC Chicken Gravy and Iraq. The story is read aloud by Mendick and the mysterious 鈥楽nake Man鈥 in an audio recording played in the Gallery, which unites its eclectic displays into one harmonious presentation.聽Jemma Egan, who is based in London, is responsible for one of the highlights, a looped video called Soft Hand (2015). This footage of a large, synthetic hand reaching toward the viewer was made using a model hand used in nail salons. It was inspired by a line in the story which said: 鈥淵ou muster a pleasant goodbye and reach out a red manicured hand that I take too quickly.鈥澛營n Egan’s words,聽鈥淚 kept thinking back to this hand, and I wanted it to be hovering between real and fake.鈥
As well as narrating the story, Mendick is responsible for Our Earthly Paradise (2015), a tropical photo mural with kitschy ceramic plates attached. The images on the plates include commercial icons Dolly Parton, the KFC logo and a packet of Peperami, which seems to add a satirical undertone to the work鈥檚 title.聽Mendick elaborated on this: 鈥淚f that鈥檚 what someone can get from it, that鈥檚 great. But I really like logos, aesthetically, and I want people to think about the past and nostalgia. When I think about Peperami, I think about my childhood.聽There are inherent traces in my work, but for me they are not always an intentional choice. In the same way someone gravitates towards their favourite colours, I explore the things I am attracted to.鈥
An incident involving a pair of croc shoes is the inspiration for Grame Durant鈥檚 Consequence of Love (2015), in which the Newcastle artist has a set of fake skeleton legs placed inside a pair of Vans shoes, while a reference to a flag bearing the phrase 鈥楾i Amo鈥 is depicted in Josh Whitaker鈥檚 handmade ceremonial flagpole. Hazy, psychedelic digital prints by Florent Dubois, from Toulouse, 聽were also on display.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, 28 August – 6 September, Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt Street, Manchester, M15 4GB. .
Charlie Bennett
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Credits
1. Lindsey Mendick,聽Our Earthly Pleasures,聽2015. Courtesy of聽Castlefield Gallery.
