Off the Wall:Floor- and Ceiling-based Works
Gallery of Modern Art, National Galleries of Scotland
Edinburgh, UK
Dec 9 2006 - May 28 2007

As seen by Rea Cris

Off the Wall shows how art has moved away from the confines of the picture frame and has taken up residence on the floor or ceiling. But of course, the National Galleries of Scotland are not creating a retrospective of the sculptural practices of art, but rather demonstrating the contemporary practice of moving away from the two dimensional surface of the canvas. It's a small and intimate exhibition; compromised of nine artists and works solely owned by the NGS, but due to the space and their fragility, the works are not always on permanent display.

Unfortunately, the NGS have taken a more humorous and gimmicky approach to promoting this exhibition. Their information pamphlet emphasizes the playfulness of the works, as the exhibit is "not just one to see, but one to experience". This promotional tactic was proven right by the amount of young couples with children, expecting arty playpens where they could snap a quirky Kodak moment. Too bad that all but two of the art works can actually be physically interacted with and if so, at a restrained level. This mentality is ill-chosen as the works on display are not about lowering the 'do not touch' barrier and going wild with prohibited pleasure, but rather making the viewer aware of their physical surrounding and volume they take up, even without the sensation of touch.

Jim Lambie's JL-Zobop floor piece fills a whole room, while still leaving it empty. You are allowed and expected to walk around the room, but you do so with trepidation aware of other people present and despite the 'loudness' of the piece its overcome by the stillness of the gallery. Yinka Shonibare's Sun, Sand and Sea make you aware of the clumsiness and awkwardness of the human body; one false move and the whole piece could be shattered. Nathan Coley's The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship Edinburgh 2004, first shown at the Fruitmarket gallery, is spilt between two rooms, thereby diminishing the effect of the work. These cardboard models, no taller than a couple of meters, give the viewer a sensation of being a child rather than a giant, but the models are so densely packed that we hover at the edges, left out, wanting in. Christine Borland's Hippocrates can claim the title of being the only ceiling piece as her tear shaped test tubes hang above our heads. The work posses an oppressive foreboding disguised in a pretty costume. One should not believe that humor is inappropriate as demonstrated in David Shrigley's Sculpture of a Piece of Paper (1997). But then again, you never know with Shrigley whether he is laughing along or is dead serious.

Martin Creed's Work No. 370 Balls from 2004 is being shown at the Gallery of Modern Art for the first time and can be physically interacted with at a moderated level. The work compromises of all types of balls or spheres, from beach balls, cricket, billiards, golf, football, basketball, baseball, christmas decorations, snowglobes, door handles, hackie sacks, chime balls, a bowling ball with a panda in it and huge black plastic sphere in the corner which looks like its slowly deflating. Its understandable why the NGS issue a warning for people to tread softly as most people's first (and seemingly only) instinct when walking into the space was to defiantly kick a beach ball across the room and then promptly move onto the next room satisfied with themsleves. Creed describes this piece as an anthropological investigation and when walking among the balls scavenging to be the first to find a different or bizarre ball the thought that humans could be likened to them is striking. We are scientists, playing God, selecting and discarding humans based on the whims of our personel taste. Maybe in the end we are no better than those who kick and run away.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/